TS saved 14k cr worth govt lands in GHMC limits: Minister

Hyderabad: The State government has saved Rs 14,000 crore worth of government lands from encroachment in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits. According to Housing Minister V Prashanth Reddy, this was possible due to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's personal intervention and supervision to protect government properties.

Taking part in the discussion on demands on Revenue on behalf of K Chandrashekar Rao, Prashanth Reddy said that the Chief Minister zeroed in on sincere and efficient RDOs and Tahsildars and posted them to Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts.

Due to special drive taken up by these officers, nearly 10,900 acres of government land was identified, and compound walls constructed around them to protect from any kind of encroachment, he added.

The Minister said that real estate sector was flourishing in Telangana because of which the revenue to Stamps and Registration wing shot up by 237 per cent in the last five-year period.

Registration wing earned Rs 6,612 crore against Rs 2,746 crore revenue earned during 2013-14, he said, adding that the number of registrations in the last year (2018-19) stood at 15.38 lakh, which was almost double when compared to registrations made in 2013-14, which was 7.35 lakh.

"This is remarkable considering the market value of lands was not changed, whatsoever, and the Stamp Duty collected was just six per cent, which is the lowest in the country," Prashanth Reddy stressed. The Minister agreed on shortage of staff as only 938 employees were working in 140 Sub-registrar offices across the State.

Commenting on Land Records purification programme, he said that 58 lakh passbooks pertaining to private lands were distributed already and formalities regarding 9.89 lakh applications were pending due to disputes and other issues. He assured that these applications would also be cleared on a priority basis after clearances were obtained.