Harish Rao levels Rs 7000-cr land scam allegations against Ponguleti

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi LP deputy leader T Harish Rao on Sunday alleged that a massive land scam involving 373 acres of government land in Nadargul worth Rs 7,000 crore was being carried out under the protection of the ruling Congress government.

Addressing a press conference here, Harish Rao said that senior Congress leaders and politically connected companies of trying to illegally take control of it. Harish Rao said that since the Congress government came to power, lands belonging to Dalits, weaker sections, and poor cultivators were systematically targeted, either under the guise of industrial activity or through outright land grabbing.

According to Harish Rao nearly 600 poor farmers were cultivating this land for generations, and were now prevented from entering their own fields. He alleged that bouncers, hired rowdies, and police intimidation are being used to keep them away and that false cases are being filed against them. He referred to women farmers such as Kausalya and Mamatha, saying they were depended on these lands for over 40 years, but were now pressured to leave with token compensation offers of Rs 5 lakh or Rs 10 lakh. He said borewells and fencing have been damaged, and that women were threatened by private musclemen while the police stand with the powerful instead of the poor.

Harish Rao said that while one individual, Shivraj Bahadur, is now claiming ownership based on Nizam-era assertions, official records and court rulings have consistently held that the land belongs to the government. He pointed out that as early as 2005, the then RDO had declared the land to be government land, and that in 2017, the Supreme Court also upheld the government’s position. He further argued that under the Land Ceiling Act, no individual can legally hold 373 acres, and yet, in 2016, Shivraj Bahadur is said to have sold the land to private firms including Alpha, Omega, and Unitech.

Rao attacked HYDRAA, asking why the same authority that swiftly demolishes poor people’s houses on weekends is now remaining silent when a Rs 7,000 crore land grab is happening in full public view. He also alleged that the real force behind the land grab was none other than Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy’s family. He claimed that the companies involved were changing names and boards repeatedly first operating under the name Kohinoor Group, then as Shilpa Infra, and later under other corporate labels in an attempt to confuse the public and mask ownership.

Harish Rao said records make it clear that the land encroachment is not the work of small private players, but is directly connected to the family of the state’s Revenue Minister. When the family of the Revenue Minister itself is allegedly involved, it is unrealistic to expect lower-level officers like the RDO or even HYDRAA to act independently unless the Chief Minister intervenes. He demanded that if Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to immediately send HYDRAA to the site, demolish the illegal compound wall, and restore access to the affected farmers.