Telangana’s 22-A Policy: Blame First, Apology Second
Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has turned a land-records crisis into a travelling exhibition of administrative accountability avoidance.
Telangana’s Congress government has discovered a land-records policy with perfect alignment between the map and the administration: nobody knows where anything is, but everyone knows whose fault it is. Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy first apologised to property owners after private land was wrongly placed on the prohibited 22-A list. Then, in the Assembly, he blamed the previous BRS government and presented Congress as the sanitation crew called in after history made a mess. This is not a U-turn. It is the Revenue Department taking the scenic route around responsibility.
The minister cited 1,02,05,250 acres on the 22-A list as of August 31, including 3,73,930 acres of private agricultural land and 1,94,543 acres of non-agricultural land. That is a number large enough to make almost any patch of Telangana qualify as a “legacy issue”. But landowners did not ask for a historical lecture. They asked who put their land on the list, whether it was done under the present government, and when the record will be corrected. Harish Rao’s inconveniently specific response was that Ponguleti had not said how many acres were added after Congress took office, nor offered a clear deadline for resolution. Governance tells a landowner when the file will move. PowerPoint tells them the file has a historical background.
The government’s own example is a masterpiece of bureaucratic overreach. Survey No. 403, covering 1,288 acres, was placed on the prohibited list because two plots had an issue. Telangana has apparently perfected collective punishment for parcels of land: two disputed plots enter the room, and 1,288 acres lose their right to leave. The same logic now governs the political explanation. One department-wide failure enters the Assembly, and the entire previous government is summoned as a witness.
Congress came to power promising Praja Palana. On 22-A, citizens have received Praja Pending, Praja Apology and Praja Blame Transfer. The land may eventually be corrected. The explanation has already been permanently registered against the wrong survey number.
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