New land policy soon, says revenue minister

VIJAYAWADA: Revenue minister N Raghuveera Reddy has said the state government will come up with a new land policy soon for allocation of land to Special Economic Zones, industries and educational institutions in a more transparent manner.Speaking at a review meeting here on Tuesday, he said the new land policy of the state would be discussed in the ensuing monsoon session of the Assembly.He said protection of government lands from encroachment was the responsibility of the revenue employees.The revenue officials would be held responsible if any encroachments come up on government lands and action would be initiated against them.Land banks would be created in every district for future use by the government.Land worth Rs 1,000 crore was resumed by the government from encroachers in Hyderabad and land worth Rs 500 crore in Warangal during the last one year. Encroachments on government lands would be identified in all the districts.Later, steps would be taken to evict the encroachers from the government lands.To maintain transparency in the functioning of the department, all the details pertaining to government lands will be posted on the Aponline website, he said.Minister for secondary education Kolusu Parthasarathi, district collector SAM Rizvi, and others were present.