‘Dead’ land panel given extension

By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: In a peculiar run of events, the Congress government in the state constituted a committee to identify land to be distributed among the landless poor, let its term expire and then gave it an extension almost a year after. During this period, none of the eight committee members were aware about the fate of the panel nor as to what it did. A high-level committee for “identification of assignment land” in the state was set up under the chairmanship of municipal administration minister Koneru Ranga Rao on December 23, 2004. It was constituted in the aftermath of the (failed) talks the government had with the Maoists in 2004. While constituting the committee, vide GO Ms. No. 1091, the government claimed its commitment towards distribution of government land among the landless poor. It is not clear what the committee did, but its six-month term expired on June 22, 2005. Now, out of the blue, the government on May 19, 2006, issued a GO (Rt. No. 1147) extending the tenure of the committee up to December 31, 2006. This raised many an eyebrow as to how could the government extend the term of a committee that no longer existed. The eight members of the panel are clueless about the fate of the committee. Social welfare minister Redya Naik, who is co-chairman of the committee, was all at sea when asked about the extension given to it. Asked as to what did the committee do, Naik claimed that it had already submitted a detailed report on the land issue to the state government. “So far, the state government has not taken any action on our report. But I think it will soon be placed before the cabinet,” he said over phone. A principal secretary to the government, who is a member of the committee, had something different to say. “The committee had a few meetings and we have drafted some recommendations. We will submit them to the government shortly,” he said. Another member of the committee and veteran journalist Potturi Venkateswara Rao said he had “absolutely no knowledge” about the affairs of the committee. “It’s news to me that the committee’s term has been extended. But as a member, I haven’t received any communication from the g ove r n m e n t , ” Venkateswara Rao told this reporter over phone from his native village in Guntur district. The committee was asked to assess the overall implementation of land distribution programmes of the government and suggest measures for more effective implementation; suggest required changes and amendments to the Acts\Rules for improved enforcement of land-related legislations; prepare an action plan along with time lines for implementation of the land distribution measures. Not one of this has happened going by the admission of some of the members of the committee. “When there is no basic data available, what does the government expect us to do,” questioned a member of the committee. Initially, the committee members toured three districts — Warangal, Krishna and Chittoor — to study landrelated issues. They met once to “fix modalities” for going about their task. Subsequently, nothing happened. The state government, on the other hand, went ahead with its much-publicised Indira Prabha programme and claimed to have “distributed” two lakh acres of land in two years. The high-level committee was never in the picture in this exercise. Redya Naik said there could be another round of land distribution in the month of August this year. With the committee chairman Koneru Ranga Rao ailing and unable to attend to his routine work as a minister, and some other members not even in the know of things, one wonders what will it achieve in the end. Will the extension serve any purpose is the moot question.