No full land resurvey in Telangana even as Andhra braces for 2nd one
Hyderabad: While Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to undertake its second comprehensive land resurvey, Telangana is yet to begin its first full-fledged survey since the formation of the state over a decade ago!
During the 71st Independence Day celebrations on August 15, 2017, at Golconda Fort, then Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) announced a comprehensive land resurvey, describing it as the first such exercise since the 1936 survey conducted under the Nizam’s rule. He said the initiative would curb corruption and resolve land disputes.
However, the exercise was largely confined to what the government termed “comprehensive land records cleansing” and the proposal of comprehensive land survey remained on the paper.
In 2021, KCR revived the proposal, calling for a statewide digital survey alongside the launch of the ‘Dharani’ portal. He stated that fixing precise coordinates for agricultural lands would prevent encroachments and boundary disputes. Despite these announcements, a full resurvey did not materialise. Critics allege that disputes and informal settlements increased after the portal’s introduction.
The Congress party made the Dharani portal a major election issue in 2023. Leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, promised to scrap the portal. After coming to power, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy replaced Dharani with a new platform named ‘Bhu Bharathi’.
Revanth Reddy also promised to revive Jamabandi, restore manual pahanies, and undertake a comprehensive land survey before elections. Although the Congress government completed two years in power, the state is still conducting pilot surveys, and full-scale implementation is yet to begin.
Under the pilot phase, around 70 villages per district have been proposed for survey. District Collectors identified villages with less than 200 acres and minimal disputes. The resurvey will use Differential GPS (DGPS) technology, with data uploaded through QGIS into the Bhu Bharathi portal. Each land parcel will receive a unique ‘Bhudhaar’ number, similar to Aadhaar. After evaluating the pilot, the government plans a phased statewide rollout, possibly beginning next year. However, officials indicate that the pilot has not commenced uniformly across all mandals.
In contrast, Andhra Pradesh completed a statewide resurvey during the tenure of former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. The process included installation of new boundary stones with YS Jagan’s portrait on stones, even though the move faced criticism from the then Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP). After returning to power, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced plans for another resurvey, alleging irregularities in the previous exercise. Farmers and other landowners in Telangana have expressed concern over inordinate delays in taking up the resurvey, stating that prolonged uncertainty benefits encroachers and fraudsters. They lament that successive governments in the state have made grand announcements but have been slow in execution. Observers say farmers’ situation has worsened after the formation of Telangana. Will the Revanth Reddy government address concerns of farmers and other landowners by taking up comprehensive land resurvey without much delay?
