Farmers of Addasaram and Konthalam villages in Rolugunta mandal of Visakhapatnam district can now breathe easy as the Rolugunta Tehsildar has been instructed to cancel the changes in the land records made by the former Tehsildar, allegedly to favour a land grabber.
Narasipatnam Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) on November 6 issued an order that the records should be set right and the land be given back to farmers for tilling. The farmers have been waging a legal battle with the support of rights groups such as Raithu Swarajya Vedhika (RSV), All India Agricultural and Rural Workers Association (AIARALA), Swaraj Abhiyan, Human Rights Forum (HRF) and Samalochana, since the last one year.
Legal dispute
Around 40 families from Addasaram village and about 15 from Konthalam have been tilling a piece of land measuring 33 acres in survey number 79-1, 79-11, 79-12B, 79-15, 82-14B, 83 and 84, since the last seven decades.
The land originally belonged to one Duvvuri Venkata Chalamayya and the last legal heir of the stretch was his granddaughter Duvvuri Surya Prakasam. But, the farmers claim that one Rayavarapu Chandrasekhar had tampered with the records pertaining to 33.64 acres , in collusion with some revenue officials by submitting fake documents, and was trying to grab the stretch.
“Former Tehsildar of Rolugunta Pentakota Appalanaidu had made some changes in the Webland records, without following due process of law to favour the land grabber,” Swaraj Abiyan co-convenor P.S. Ajay Kumar alleged.
However, after an inquiry conducted by Joint Collector G. Srijana and Narasipatnam RDO recently, the officials have been instructed to change the records. The market value of the land in question is more than ₹2.5 crore, said Mr. Ajay.