Wakf land sold for AP, says Asad

MIM leader alleges that Wakf was not paid for land sold

MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi on Monday alleged that the governments in undivided AP had auctioned valuable land belonging to the Wakf Board and Endowments department and used the money to develop the Seemandhra region.

Participating in a debate on the land survey in the Assembly, Mr Owaisi demanded that the government place details on the extent of land sold, allotted and encroached upon.

He demanded that the government constitute a House committee to probe these issues.

“Wakf lands were allotted to Shamshabad airport, Hitec City, software companies. No compensation was paid to the Wakf Board.

“We demand that the government protect the remaining lands,” Mr Owaisi said.

Congress deputy floor leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the government was forcibly taking back assigned lands from the poor and handing it over to industrialists.

He found fault with TRS government’s claims that it was taking up land survey across the state for the first time after Nizam government did survey in 1930s.

“Land survey and updation of revenue records is not a new thing. It’s a continuos process undertaken by all previous governments.

“Earlier, the governments used to conduct public revenue meetings in villages and towns and sought applications from landowners on any changes in land holdings or ownership.

“The TRS government had stopped this after coming to power in 2014,” Mr Vikramarka said.

Mr Vikramarka said the UPA government in 2008 had launch digitisation of land records in all states with 100 per cent Central funding.

Mr Vikramarka said the previous Congress governments had introduced several land reforms since Independence to give ownership rights to members of SC and ST communities on land under their cultivation, distributed assigned lands but the TRS government was snatching away these lands and handing them over to corporates like Pharma City.