Telangana’s Land Records Have Entered Permanent Committee Mode

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has discovered the ideal Congress solution to Telangana’s 22-A land crisis: announce a permanent fix, appoint a high-powered committee and leave the calendar safely blank. The prohibited list covers nearly 98 lakh acres, including 3.73 lakh acres the government says are disputed private patta lands. The owners have been given figures, categories and speeches. They have not been given the one detail that matters when property is blocked: when they can use it.

The government’s explanation is beautifully modular. The problem was inherited. The data was digitised. Officials entered entire survey numbers when only portions were disputed. The previous regime created the mess. The present regime is heroically studying it. In one Kancha Gachibowli case, a dispute involving about five acres allegedly affected registration of the remaining 2,395 acres. That is not land administration so much as putting an entire apartment complex under lockdown because one flat lost its key.

Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy says the Section 22-A extent fell from 1,02,52,690 acres in December 2023 to 1,02,05,250 acres by August 2026. The government therefore has a reduction, a defence and an achievement figure. It still does not have a credible public timetable for clearing the people who cannot register, sell or mortgage their land. Revanth Reddy’s 30-day deadline applies to an inquiry into lands linked to KCR’s family. For everyone else, the deadline has been promoted to a philosophical concept.

Harish Rao has demanded a deadline, an apology and a white paper, asking why registrations stopped under Congress rule if the entire problem was merely inherited. Fair question, though the BRS record on land administration is part of the examination paper, not a model answer. Congress cannot turn criticism of the previous government into a substitute for fixing the present one. “Praja Palana” is being presented as government that listens, resolves problems and protects rights. At the moment, it is government that listens, forms a committee and protects the file from resolution.

The land remains blocked. The slogans are fully registered.