The leaders and members of the TDP and the CPI demanded that a CBI inquiry be initiated into the Daspalla land issue.
Staging a dharna near the Circuit House on Daspalla Hills here on Saturday, former TDP MLA and Visakhapatnam Parliamentary Constituency Palla Srinivasa Rao said that when over 1,500 people are waiting to get their Section 22-A files cleared, but the government has put them in the back burner and is swiftly going ahead with the clearance of the Daspalla lands.
This clearly indicates that there is vested interest in getting the lands cleared for sale to private parties, he said.
According to him, the extent of land is around 15 acres and the market value is close to ₹5,000 crore.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao also pointed out that when the TDP was in power, the present IT Minister Gudivada Amarnath had protested over the same land issue and even submitted a letter to the CBI requesting for an inquiry. He had even gone to the extent of naming Nara Lokesh in the land scam. And now he is keeping mum, despite the land being grabbed by some private land sharks, who have the backing of the YSR Congress Party, he alleged.
The TDP leader also alleged that the greenbelt in the area, which was notified in the earlier master plan has now been done away with.
According to Mr. Srinivasa Rao, the State government had filed a case in the AP High Court stating that the land belongs to the government and had also won the case. But a private party from a royal family had staked a claim that the land belongs to them and they had challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court, where they had won the case.
Mr. Srinivasa Rao also pointed out that the land has been earlier classified as hill poramboke and now it is being recognised as ziroyati land. “Once poramboke, the land remains as poramboke, the classification cannot be changed,” he said. A large number of police force was deployed to control any untoward incidents.
Meanwhile, Corporator of Ward 22 P. L.V.N Murthy in a press meet on Saturday accused YSRCP MP V. Vijaya Sai Reddy of having played a key role in the Daspalla land issue. He alleged that the entire land deal was done by floating benami LLP (limited liability partnership) companies that are owned by the kith and kin of the MP. He alleged that officials from the State government had put pressure on the district administration to clear the land deal.
