Dharani proves a bane for 25K families across State

Hyderabad: Owing to Dharani’s inconsistencies, about 25,000 families, despite having possession of land, are yet to get new passbooks. The committee on Dharani that identified about 18 lakh acres of such land which comes under Part-B (land parcels classified as disputed lands between two private parties), will be submitting a report to the government while suggesting ways to resolve the matter before the next Assembly session. According to highly placed sources, besides the major issue of Bhoodan lands in Telangana, the farmers across the State who are in possession of land amounting to 18 lakh acres do not have new passbooks which authenticate their claims.

“Earlier, these farmers used to have pattadar passbooks, which were supported by the title book. Despite being under the possession of the land and also doing farming, the individual farmer failed to get a new passbook. Massive transactions took place in haste during the previous government despite strong opposition that this was a big scam. These 18 lakh acres of land is now under Part-B, which needs to be resolved. For instance, a single mandal like Yacharam has 645 land related disputes,” informed a Dharani’s committee member. As the State government will be tabling the new RoR (Record of Rights) Act, 2024 in the upcoming Assembly’s winter session, it is most likely that the State government besides tabling the new RoR Act will also be changing the name of Dharani to Bhumata. The committee is speeding up the deliberations over the issue and will be submitting a report shortly. “Besides interpreting the existing information, we are on path to find a solution towards resolving this long pending issue. We shall be submitting a report with suggestions on priority, if these issues could be resolved through Grama Sabhas or revenue meetings or any other way,” the committee member added.

Meanwhile, questions are being raised about the way the changes are taking place in the Revenue Act, citing deficiency in public discourse on key issue concerning lands. “This is a very complex issue and should have taken much larger public discussion towards resolving a serious matter like this,” felt a retired MRO.