Land records with errors hinder Bharosa payment

Hyderabad: The Congress govt is facing a challenge in distributing benefits under the Rythu Bharosa scheme due to discrepancies found in land records. Recent verification efforts have revealed that 8,500 survey numbers reflect more land parcels than they actually exist, leading to payments for 1.5 lakh acres being put on hold. This has left many farmers frustrated and uncertain about getting financial support under the scheme.
Sources indicate that these irregularities pertain to past land registration processes, with incorrect or non-existent land extents being recorded for farmers during land transactions. This error has led to over-allocated land parcels in official records, which now complicates the eligibility for Rythu Bharosa.
Farmers are upset, asserting they should not be held responsible for the inaccuracies in the land registration process. Many are voicing their frustration to authorities regarding the holding of payments for land parcels that are now deemed ineligible for Rythu Bharosa support.
Authorities are now working to verify land parcels, particularly to identify and exclude non-arable land from the eligibility list. A high-level source familiar with the developments said, "We have found discrepancies where more land parcels are recorded in the passbooks than what the official survey number reflects. For example, if a survey number X is supposed to correspond to 10 acres of land, the passbook may show more land than that, often due to errors made during land transactions."
These discrepancies often arise when land is bought or sold, with incorrect or non-existent land extents being recorded for farmers.
The core issue now facing the govt is determining who should be held accountable for these errors in land recording. "It is likely that staff may have been registering properties without thoroughly assessing the actual size corresponding to the main survey number," said an insider.
A land laws expert said, "This highlights a deeper issue in the land administration process. States must undertake comprehensive land surveys to identify and prevent such irregularities in the future."
With farmers caught in the middle of this mess, the govt now faces the daunting task of not only addressing the immediate payment delays but also reforming the land registration process to prevent such errors from occurring again, sources said. "No decision has been taken regarding this matter, except for the blacklisting of these land parcels from Rythu Bharosa," said a source.