Hyderabad: Farmers from two villages in Medak district have on Friday levelled allegations of land grabbing against the Health Minister Eatala Rajender accusing him of forcibly taking over assigned lands. Eight villagers from Achampet and Hakimpet in Masaipet mandal have submitted a complaint to the Chief Minister stating that the Minister and his followers had taken over their lands to start a poultry industry in the grabbed lands. They appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure that the assigned lands given to them by the Government be restored to them immediately.
The land grab charge against a senior Minister in the State cabinet sent shockwaves among political circles and people alike in the State. The petitioners – Chakali Lingaiah, Chakali Bihava, Chakali Krishna, Chakali Nagulu, Chakali Parashuram, Erukala Durgaiah, Erukala Yellaiah and Erukala Ramulu – maintained that they were given assigned lands in different survey numbers by the government in 1994. “For the last few months, Minister Eatala Rajender his associates Suri @ Alli Sudershan and Yamzala Sudershan Reddy had unveiled a plan to grab the assigned lands”, the petition in Telugu alleged.
The petitioners alleged that the Minister and his associates had taken the land documents after subjecting the petitioners to fear stating that the government was to take over the assigned lands. “They had forcibly collected the land assignment certificates from us”. The petitioners alleged that nearly 100 acres of assigned lands were grabbed by the Minister who started a poultry industry “without any permissions”. Some farmer who objected to and prevented the land grab were being made to suffer with the access to their lands being cut off by the minister and his followers, the petitioners alleged.
Access to their lands was being denied only to pressurise the other farmers to sell their lands to them. Any resistance in this regard was only leading to more threats that access to lands would be denied. The petitioners appealed to the Chief Minister to restore their lands grabbed by the Minister.
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