Andhra Pradesh: GVL urges Governor to direct government to make public reports of SITs on Visakhapatnam land scam

Lack of transparency is creating a suspicion that the government is protecting the land-grabbers as part of an unholy nexus between them, the BJP leader tells Governor

BJP Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao with Governor S. Abdul Nazeer, at Raj Bhavan in Vijayawada on Friday.

BJP Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao submitted a memorandum to Governor S. Abdul Nazeer on June 2 (Friday), requesting him to direct the State government to release the reports of the Special Investigation Teams (SITs) that probed the land scam in Visakhapatnam and submit an action taken report keeping in view the larger public interest.

Mr. Narasimha Rao said that the TDP government had constituted a SIT in 2017 to probe the large-scale illegal land transactions, and a voluminous report was submitted in 2018.

The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government had also set up a SIT in 2019, which submitted its findings in September 2021.

However, the two reports were kept under wraps, Mr. Narasimha Rao said.

The SITs had apparently brought to light blatant violations committed by fraudsters, including a few unscrupulous politicians, but the facts were not disclosed to the public, he alleged.

The MP said it was incumbent upon the State government to put in public domain both the original reports immediately as people need to know how valuable lands in the Port City were grabbed after bifurcation.

He observed that lack of transparency created a suspicion that the governments were protecting the land-grabbers as part of an unholy nexus between them, hence the urgency to expose the culprits.