Senior TDP leader and Visahapatnam North MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao has written a letter to the government, welcoming the idea of constituting another Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe the alleged land scam in the city and its vicinity.
Though the letter was written on August 29, it surfaced only on Friday, coinciding with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tour to Srikakulam, with a scheduled stopover at the Visakhapatnam airport.
Lauding the move, which was reportedly discussed by the YSRCP leaders during the recent District Review Committee (DRC) meeting, Mr. Srinivasa Rao urged the government to constitute a fresh SIT immediately and punish the guilty.
Referring to the SIT constituted by the TDP government in 2017, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said, though it had submitted its report, the findings were not made public.
“Despite making a plea in my capacity as a senior Cabinet Minister, the government did not make the report public,” he said in the letter.
Claiming that he had played a key role in the formation of the SIT, the TDP leader said he had cooperated with it then and would continue to do so now.
In the letter, Mr. Srinivasa Rao also congratulated the YSRCP government on completing 100 days in power.
The letter came as a surprise to both his allies and adversaries, particularly when leaders of both the parties had been locked in a bitter war of words ever since the YSRCP came to power.
When Ayyanna upped the ante
In June 2017, the TDP government, under pressure from various quarters, had constituted the SIT headed by DIG Vineet Brijlal. After six-month-long investigation, it had submitted its report.
Former TDP Minister Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu had upped the ante when he went vocal about the scam and submitted a petition before the SIT, accusing a senior TDP leader from the district of having played a key role in the scam.
The SIT had taken up 333 petitions for inquiry from 2,875 it received. It had also identified close to 1,100 acres of government land that had been grabbed and recommended criminal action against 32 private individuals and 30 government officials. The SIT also identified 68 cases of NOC lands that had been grabbed by fabricating false documents.
Except for a brief summary, which contained the names of a former Revenue Minister in the Congress government and a few bureaucrats, including a few who had served under various capacities in Visakhapatnam in the last two decades, the report was not made public.
However, based on the report, cases of land grabbing had been booked against former TDP MLA from Anakapalle Peela Govind.
Jagan’s promise
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his election campaign as Leader of the Opposition, had assured to make the report public on coming to power.
But the YSRCP government is yet to put the report in public domain.
