Rajya Sabha MP GVL Narasimha Rao has written a letter to Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan to make public SIT reports on land scams and irregularities in Visakhapatnam.


In his letter to the Governor, Narasimha Rao said the present YCP government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe large-scale land scams in Visakhapatnam in 2019. The report was submitted last year in September, but has not been made public so far.


A similar SIT probe was ordered by the previous TDP-led state government in 2017, and the voluminous report of the team was submitted in 2018. This report was also never made public, said MP Narasimha Rao.


The MP said it is believed that efforts to curb large-scale land grabbing in Visakhapatnam came to light in both SIT reports but were kept away from public knowledge to protect vested interests.


MP Narasimha Rao urged the Governor to order the state government to release the two SIT reports on land scams and irregularities in Visakhapatnam and stop handing over Daspalla land as it attracts urban ceiling restrictions and cannot be handed over to original owners.


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Narasimha Rao mentioned that over 40,000 middle-class families in Visakhapatnam were in huge crisis as restrictions imposed under Section 22A of the Registration Act had thrown their lives into throes of crisis as they cannot either sell or transfer their property purchased or construct out of life savings.


There is a need to evolve a policy to remove Section 22A restrictions from properties owned by middle-class families and give them full ownership rights, he said.


Another lakh families living in slums for several decades in Visakhapatnam live in abject human conditions, Rao pointed out.


"Due to land ownership issues, they are not allowed to rebuild broken houses or even repair damaged single-room houses. The Government needs to evolve a policy to regularise such colonies without charging any money from them," said MP Narasimha Rao.