The Revenue Department has initiated measures for protecting 12,700 acres of prime government land identified in municipalities and mandal headquarters from encroachments, said Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy here on Wednesday.
Addressing a video conference of Collectors and Joint Collectors at the Secretariat, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said that according to the report furnished by the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA), 4,700 acres of government land in municipalities of 11 districts and 8,000 acres of land in mandal headquarters in nine districts were identified at an estimated value of Rs.1,000 crore.
The government has released Rs. 30 crore so far for the construction of compound walls or for erecting barbed wire fencing around the prime government land and the CCLA will soon organise a meeting, he said.
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Congratulating the AP Land Management Authority officials for measures launched for the resumption of unutilised government land sanctioned by various departments to private parties for different purposes, the Minister said, “Our intention is to ensure proper utilisation of land.”
‘Target is to distribute all government land’
The video conference was basically addressed by the Minister to assess the preparedness of the district administration for the seventh and last phase of distribution of agricultural land to the poor in the wake of agitation in Seemandhra.
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While 78 lakh acres of government land had been distributed so far in the State, 1.3 lakh acres of land was identified for distribution to 80,500 beneficiaries in the ensuing phase.
“Our target is to distribute all the government land to the last acre.
In future, if required, the government can purchase land and distribute it to the poor,” he said.
Mr. Raghuveera Reddy asked the Collectors to get village-wise certificates of the extent of government land available for the assignment. If no government land is available, then certificates to that effect should be submitted.
Of about 27,000 revenue villages in the State, government land is available for assignment in 7,600 villages and no land was available in about 19,800 villages.
But ‘No land Certificates’ have come from only 10,000 villages so far, he said.
Vacant posts
Noting that there were vacant 2,025 VRO posts in the State, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said that Collectors could fill 30 per cent of vacancies immediately by promoting eligible VRAs.
The Revenue Department would soon fill 1,980 VRO posts and 4,634 VRA posts.