Telangana CM says farmers' land will be declared benami if records are not linked with Aadhaar

The Chief Minister sounded the warning after observing that many farmers were not coming forward to link their Aadhaar with that of land records prepared by the officials during the recently concluded purification of land records.

"We took up land records purification to maintain complete record of the lands in the State and urged farmers to link their Aadhaar details with their farm lands. But some farmers especially those in the districts of Medchal-Malkajgiri and Rangareddy have not linked the same," the Chief Minister observed. He asked the officials to set a deadline for farmers to link their lands with Aadhaar as a last opportunity and declare the lands without Aadhaar linkage as benami lands to initiate necessary legal action against them.

Reviewing the progress of the proposed distribution of pattadar passbooks at Pragati Bhavan here, Chandrashekhar Rao said there should not be any further confusion on ownership of lands in the State. Though the State government decided to distribute the new passbooks to farmers commencing March 11, it is likely to be postponed following the Chief Minister's diktat to officials on Friday to ensure that there are no factual errors in the newly printed passbooks being readied for distribution on March 11.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the land records purification was taken up with utmost dedication by the revenue employees and the details are being uploaded into the land records website 'Dharani'. "The records should be examined two-three times before printing the new passbooks to ensure that there are no factual errors in them. Get necessary information from the district collectors and get the records thoroughly verified even if it is going to take some more time," he declared.

Chandrashekhar Rao instructed the officials concerned that farmers with assigned lands should also be given new pattadar passbooks as is done with other farmers. He wanted identification of assigned lands under the possession of the beneficiaries and give clarity on the land ownership rights. "The passbooks should be made with the names of the owners. Every entry in the passbooks should be scrutinised thoroughly and there shall not be any mistake or error in the entries. There should not be any undue haste in printing the new passbooks," he said. Telangana Today