The State government is still to give the final nod to the SIT (special investigation team), which was constituted to probe into the alleged land scams in Visakhapatnam, to submit its report.
It is learnt that the report is ready for submission, but the authorities concerned are yet to give the SIT the permission to table it. Sources say that the report was readied in December 2020.
The three-member SIT comprising two former IAS officers, Vijay Kumar and Y.V. Anuradha, and a retired district and sessions judge T. Bhaskara Rao, began the work in October 2019.
Initially, it was said that the report would be tabled and made public within three months and the interim report was submitted in February, but so far the government had not given the clearance for submission of the final report, alleged CPI(M) State Secretariat member Ch. Narasinga Rao.
After submitting the interim report to the government in February 2020, the SIT had asked for extension of three months for completion of the probe and it was granted. But since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had brought its probe to a standstill. But from October 2020, it once again started to operate and it is learnt that by December, the investigation was completed and the report prepared.
The SIT primarily probed into six categories of acts such as change of classification, tampering of records, encroachment of government land, grabbing of government land, allotment of government land to private individuals and organisations and NoC issued to political sufferers and freedom fighters.
Of the total of about 1,400 representations received, SIT had cleared around 400 with its recommendations and observations. The other files had been sent to the authorities concerned in the Revenue Department for their clarifications and observation, it is learnt.
Many officials named?
It is also learnt that SIT has named 25 to 30 prominent persons, including a few serving bureaucrats and senior government officials, former bureaucrats and former senior officials and a few persons of repute in the city, who have been involved in the alleged land scams.
Many in the city who had filed complaints are now questioning the constitution and the intent of the SIT.
