The AP Government’s ambitious program to distribute 25 lakh house sites has been facing lots of criticism from all sections. Now, a shady deal has come to the fore in Amaravati Capital City itself. It has confirmed the worst fears of the critics. A mandal Incharge Tahsildar was suspended for creating fake documents to help in selling a land without clearing Rs. 1.10 Cr loan to the bank concerned. Incharge Tahsildar Nirmala Krishna was given punishment for allowing the fraud to take place.
The top bureaucrats and IAS officials were surprised at such a big scam taking place right under their nose in Amaravati Capital area. The Rs. 1.10 Cr scam took place in just one village named Muthayapalem in Amaravati mandal. As there was the loan on the land, it should not be purchased by the Government for house sites programme. But the Tahsildar colluded and created fake documents to allow this to happen. Suspicions arose over how largescale scams would have taken place if such huge corruption took place only in a single village in house sites sceme.
Guntur District Collector Samuel Anand quickly swung into action and made an enquiry. Based on the preliminary findings and feedback from the banks concerned, Mr. Samuel had suspended the Incharge Tahsildar.
The latest scam happened amid allegations of increasing corruption by revenue officials in land acquisitions in the name of house sites. There were also complaints that the ruling party leaders got Rs. 10 lakh worth lands sold to the Government at Rs. 40 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh by pocketing the margins.