TS govt to conduct land survey from Jan

HYDERABAD: In an effort to know the current status of government lands and to check encroachment of lands in the state, the Telangana government will conduct a fresh survey of lands from January. The survey would be completed in two years.

Disclosing this in the state Legislative Council, deputy chief minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali said an amount of `254 crore (`139 crore Central allocation and `115 crore state allocation) has been allocated for conducting the land survey in the state.

'Though we requested Centre to release `600 crore for this purpose it released only `139 crore. Still we are going ahead with the survey as it has become necessary to do so to save government lands from land sharks,' he remarked.

Since several land records were missing, the state government had decided to adopt advanced scientific method for taking up land survey in the state, he said.

'We will see that every piece of land is covered under the survey so that there is no scope for illegal documentation,'' he pointed out.

Independent member Potla Nageswara Rao suggested that the government amend the Land Registration Act and instead of registering the sale deed of properties it's title has to be registered.

'We should start registering titles of properties instead of sale deeds as is being done in other countries. This would help in checking illegal land registrations,'' he said.

TRS member Yadav Reddy suggested that the government should keep biometric record of the land owners so that illegal sale do not take place.

Minority Reservation: Stating that his government was committed to implement 12 percent reservation to minorities in education and jobs, Mahmood Ali said that the state government would soon constitute a committee to conduct socio-economic survey of minorities in the state.

Replying to a question raise by Congress member MS Prabhkar Rao in the Question Hour, the deputy CM said the state government was taking measures for the successful implementation of reservation for minorities in the state and as first step it has decided to set up a committee for finding the actual beneficiaries.

'As proper survey and exercise was not done before announcing reservation for the minorities in the past the court has not allowed the proposal. Hence the TRS government has decided to conduct extensive survey and exercise before implementing the reservation', he said.