Not long ago, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao made a tall promise that he would sit in a chair amidst tribal people and resolve their podu lands issue. He promised them that all those who had been cultivating podu lands would be given title deeds.
“But the promise remained only on paper. Forget sitting in a chair amidst the tribal farmers, he has been harassing them for agitating for the land rights. The issue has turned more complicated with the introduction of Dharani portal,” Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party president Bandi Sanjay said, after staging a two-hour-long silent protest at Varalaxmi Gardens in Karimnagar town on Monday.
In an attempt to expose KCR’s failed promise, the BJP president arranged a big chair at the protest site with a label stating that it was reserved for chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
“It appears you are not able to find a chair to sit amidst the tribal farmers to resolve their issue and set right the issues in Dharani portal. Here is the Maharaja chair. Now, you can sit here and solve the long-pending issue of land rights of tribals and Adivasis,” Sanjay said.
He said it had become a practice for KCR to say that he would sit in a chair and would not leave the place till he resolved any issue.
“Since he considers himself a Maharaja, we have arranged a Maharaja chair for him,” he said.
Sanjay alleged that the chief minister had made several promises in the last eight years but had not fulfilled even a single promise.
“It is a blatant lie that he had brought in Dharani portal to root out corruption. People are laughing at him. The portal has created law and order issues in the otherwise peaceful villages. It has only helped land grabbers and those who had sold away their lands 40-50 years ago,” he alleged.
He said the removal of “encroachment” column in Dharani portal and the change of names of villages and land owners resulted in utter chaos in the villages.
It appears the portal was brought in only to remove Rythu Bandhu scheme, he alleged.
He pointed out that lakhs of applications were flooding the revenue offices to remove errors in Dharani portal.
“Even the TRS leaders are complaining about the goofs-up in Dharani portal, but the chief minister is unmoved,” he said.
Sanjay reminded that during his Praja Sangrama Yatra, thousands of farmers had brought to his notice the problems arising out of Dharani portal.
So far, the records pertaining to 15 lakh acres of land had not been registered in Dharani portal and those which were registered were full of mistakes, he said.
“KCR is adamant on continuing the same because he and his family members had encroached upon land worth thousands of crores and if Dharani portal is done away with, he will be put to loss,” he said.