The Communist Party of India (CPI) has extended total support to the action of the State government in recovering the ‘lands in the illegal possession of GITAM Deemed to be University.’
Speaking to the media here on Thursday, CPI State Assistant Secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy said that evidence indicates that GITAM had encroached government land, constructed buildings on it and then applied to the government for regularisation. The management had filed writ petitions in the High Court and tried to get the disputes settled in its favour, he alleged.
The CPI leader said that giving land either free of cost or at a price lower than the market rate was not justified. While supporting the action of the State government, Mr. Murthy said that whether the State government was keen on protecting government lands or simply targeting its political rivals would be known based on its future actions. “The action on GITAM, of which TDP leader Sri Bharat is the president and on former Mayor Sabbam Hari, another TDP leader, in the recent past, is giving rise to the suspicion that YSRCP is targeting only TDP leaders,” he said.
He said that it would be wrong to think that only these two leaders had encroached government lands. The YSR Congress Party government could earn the trust of the people, if similar action was initiated on all political leaders, who had indulged in such violations, irrespective of their party affiliations. On the contrary, if only one political party was targeted, it would send wrong signals to people, he said.
Mr. Murthy recalled that former Minister Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu had announced, when he was a Minister, that nearly 2,000 acres of land in Visakhapatnam city and surrounding mandals was grabbed by unscrupulous persons. He had written to the then Chief Minister alleging that one of his Cabinet colleagues had mortgaged government lands to obtain loans from banks. The previous government had appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), following a number of complaints. The SIT had submitted its report to the previous government but neither the TDP government nor the present YSRCP government have made it public so far.
The YSRCP government has appointed its own SIT and its investigation was continuing. The CPI leader alleged that irrespective of the parties in power, land grabbing was continuing. Mr. Satyanarayana Murthy said that the CPI had brought to light the large-scale land grabbing in the district in the past and had even organised a ‘Satyagraha’ for 110 days demanding action but nothing had happened.
