Cash-strapped AP eyes Bhudaan, assigned lands

Hyderabad, Feb 4: With a view to raise additional funds and meet the needs to provide housing for the poor and weaker sections in the society, the cash-strapped Andhra Pradesh Government has now initiated on an exercise to identify lands under various categories in all the 13 districts of the state. In this connection, the Deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister K.E.Krishna Murthy has directed all the District Collectors survey and identify Bhoodaan lands, 'Grama Kantha' (village community) lands and Banjar and assigned lands in the state. The collectors were also told to furnish details of all categories of lands. They were also told to give details of vacant lands, which could be utilised for other needs of the State. Speaking to media persons, Krishna Murthy said there were 14,373 acres of Bhoodaan lands in the 13 districts. The government intends to allocate them to the weaker and poor sections in the state. The minister explained that the purpose behind a survey of assigned lands is to identify the lands that were purchased from beneficiaries in violation of AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition on Transfer POT) 1977 Act.