Harish Rao Demands Removal of Telangana Revenue Minister Ponguleti

Senior Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T. Harish Rao has written a letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, demanding that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy be directed to dismiss Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy from the Telangana Cabinet over the alleged misuse of Section 22A of the Registration Act.

Harish Rao also urged the leadership to direct the Telangana government to order an independent investigation into the matter, alleging that the provision was being manipulated for private gain.

In his letter, the BRS leader alleged that Section 22A was being misused to arbitrarily freeze private properties across the state. He claimed that property owners were facing demands for 30 per cent commissions to have their lands removed from the prohibited list, while others were allegedly coerced into entering 50:50 development arrangements.

Harish Rao highlighted reports of a "30 per cent collection racket," asserting that land owners were being forced to approach intermediaries to clear their properties from the prohibited registry. He stated that utilizing state machinery to pressure property owners for private benefits amounts to a serious abuse of governmental authority that requires a comprehensive investigation.

Targeting the state leadership, Harish Rao pointed out that the revenue department is directly responsible for maintaining land records, land classifications, mutations, and prohibited-property lists. He stated that if the Chief Minister was unaware of these alleged irregularities, it points to a serious failure of supervision, and if he was aware but failed to act, the lapse is even more severe.

To address the issue, Harish Rao demanded the constitution of a Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired High Court Judge to thoroughly investigate the Section 22A controversy. He also called on the state government to publish a detailed, district-wise and survey-number-wise list of all properties added to and removed from the Section 22A list, complete with the specific reasons for each action.