Telangana’s Land Files Have Found Everyone Except Responsibility

Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy has discovered the ideal Congress government asset: a land controversy with no fixed owner and an unlimited supply of previous administrations.

First came the apology to property owners caught in the Section 22-A prohibited-land mess. Then came the Assembly explanation: blame Dharani, blame the previous BRS government, and present the paperwork as though the files themselves had requested a political career. The land may be restricted, but the responsibility is freely transferable.

Ponguleti’s figures were offered as reassurance. The 22-A list, he said, covered 1,02,52,690 acres when Congress came to power in December 2023 and 1,02,05,250 acres by August 31, 2026 — a reduction of 47,440 acres. The prohibited-land mountain is therefore slightly smaller. This is the administrative equivalent of announcing that the queue has moved three inches and calling it Praja Palana.

The minister also listed 96,36,777 acres of government agricultural land, 3,73,930 acres of private agricultural land, 1,94,543 acres of non-agricultural land and 5,12,792 acres of endowment land. For a family whose private property is wrongly trapped in the system, this is not clarity. It is a guided tour of the filing cabinet, conducted by the person who still has not said when the door will open.

That was the question T Harish Rao raised: how much land was added after Congress took office, how will wrongly listed private properties be removed, and by when? The answer, so far, is a historical lecture on Dharani. Revanth Reddy’s government has mastered the art of inheriting a problem, renaming it legacy, announcing a marginal numerical improvement and leaving the citizen to admire the graph. The Congress promised people’s governance. On 22-A, people supplied the documents, the department supplied the error, the minister supplied the blame, and the file began its spiritual journey through the Secretariat. The acreage has fallen by 47,440 acres; accountability remains unregistered.