41% ‘prohibited’? Show the book
Revenue Minister Ponguleti says 1.017 crore acres sit on the 22-A prohibited list in Telangana — about 41% of total land. Errors are admitted, fixes promised. The BJP and Congress can trade lines; Telangana needs the ledger.
The government says the category-wise 22-A records will be published.
The state’s Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said 1,01,76,068 acres in Telangana are on the 22-A prohibited list, against a total 2,49,97,312 acres recorded on Bhu Bharati — about 41%. He said the tally spans government, forest, assigned, tank/shikam, endowment, road and other categories, and cited 3,73,524 acres of agricultural land within it. According to subsequent coverage of his remarks, the government will publish the category-wise records as of 7 December 2023 along with present status and reasons for inclusion.
What is on the record today is less tidy: Ponguleti has publicly acknowledged mistakes in the 22-A entries — private properties included in error, entire survey numbers uploaded when only a slice was in dispute, and deletions ordered by the High Court still showing up. Examples he cited: Jubilee Hills Survey No. 403 (about 1,288 acres) where only two plots reportedly had an issue, and a 12-acre Ranga Reddy plot tagged in full when two acres were Bhoodan. The Bhu Bharati portal itself notes the problem of whole-survey misclassification and invites corrections.
Two things follow. One: a large prohibited inventory exists and the errors are real — that is the state’s own admission. Two: the crore-plus figure is the minister’s claim until the department publishes the breakdown he promised. Telangana readers need district- and category-wise numbers, not a prime-time food fight between the BJP and the Congress over who uploaded what. The Congress government in Telangana should release the full table it says it has; the BJP-led Centre can sit this one out until it brings a dataset, not a slogan.