The TDP on Tuesday demanded that government put an immediate end to the ongoing land acquisition drive, alleging that the entire exercise was riddled with financial irregularities.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, TDP spokesperson Panchumarthi Anuradha said while the government was claiming that it was acquiring lands for distribution of house sites to the poor, the programme had become a money-spinner for it.
“Hundreds of crores of public money has been looted in over 200 out of 625 mandals. The government has paid ten times more than the actual value only to benefit the YSRCP leaders. Farmers and landowners, however, got a raw deal and are not being given any benefits,” Ms. Anuradha alleged.
“Despite the land acquisition resulting in a multi-crore scam, the YSRCP is shamelessly boasting about its efforts to distribute 25 house sites on July 8 as a tribute to Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on his birth anniversary. Instead, the government should celebrate YSR’s birth anniversary as ‘A.P. corruption day’ considering the scams and corruption that took place during his regime. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy amassed vast illegal assets when his father YSR was at the helm of affairs,” she alleged.
‘Massive fraud’
Ms. Anuradha deplored that while Mr. Jagan accused the TDP regime of insider trading in the establishment of Amaravati as the State capital prior to the Assembly elections, the YSRCP leaders were now committing massive frauds through insider trading in land acquisition.
In Vinukonda, 100 acres of government land was available for house sites but officials opted to buy 99 acres from a ruling party leader by paying him ₹18 lakh per acre, which is several times higher than the market value, she alleged.