Hyderabad: The Congress government has identified the lapses in the implementation of Dharani portal and ordered a forensic audit to ascertain the extent of irregularities.
The Dharani portal, launched by BRS government in 2020, was dubbed as a one-stop solution for all land-related issued. However, due to a large number of complaints and allegations of unauthorised change in records, Revanth Reddy sought a detailed report from officials soon after becoming chief minister of the state. He had asked chief commissioner of land administration (CCL) to submit a report on the shortcomings of Dharani portal.
Dharani was the bone of contention for political parties in Telangana and became a major political issue during the campaign for the recently held Assembly elections in the state.
During the campaign, the Congress and the BJP alleged that the BRS used the system to “grab lands.” The BRS countered the allegations by labeling the project as a progressive reform. Moreover, the state government also identifies beneficiaries for its flagship scheme ‘Rythu Bandhu’, financial assistance to farmers, using Dharani records.
A report by The New Indian Express, quoting official sources, has revealed that some land records were ‘unauthorizedly’ updated from the office of Telangana State Technology Services (TSTS). The revenue authorities discovered this by verifying the internet protocol (IP) addresses that were used to change the records.
As per the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Books Act, 2020, the registrar — tahsildar-cum-joint sub-registrar — and district collectors have the authority to update the land records. However, the BRS government has done away with the role of village revenue officer, divisional revenue officer and joint/additional collector in updating the land records.
Sources in the revenue department alleged that the TSTS illegally got access to the portal with the help of a minister in the BRS government. Authorities now suspect that records of assigned, forest, endowment, Waqf, and state owned lands worth thousands of crores were changed using the illegal access.
The officials are now trying to identify the person(s) who had access and changed the land records.
Meanwhile, a five-member committee on the Dharani portal is scheduled to hold a review meeting with district collectors of Siddipet, Rangareddy, Nizamabad and Warangal districts at the State Secretariat on January 24. The committee intends to conduct on-site visits to selected villages and mandal headquarters as part of a sample study.
Telangana revenue minister Srinivas Reddy has been briefed on the committee’s progress and an interim report was submitted to the state government.
