Sangareddy: The process of identifying eligible tribal farmers to distribute podu land pattas is nearing completion in the erstwhile Medak district.
The process was launched when the State government invited applications from the eligible farmers in September 2021. As many as 3,090 persons filed applications saying that they were in possession of 6,648 acres in Sangareddy district. However, Revenue officials in collaboration with Forest department officials have found that only 3,451 acres of land were in possession of farmers. The officials have further found that a good number of them were not Schedule Tribes based on Grama Sabha resolutions and RDO’s inquiry report. Finally, the officials have found that as many as 1,130 STs were in possession of 1770.85 acres of land in Sangareddy.
Meanwhile, as many as 4,015 people have applied for podu land pattas in Medak district. After the initial survey, officials found that 1,061 were from non-STs who were ineligible for getting pattas. Among the remaining, officials found that only 171 were eligible for issuing pattas. The officials have received applications from 246 people in Siddipet district. Only 9 of them were STs, but none of these 9 STs were in possession of any forest land. Hence, it was proved that none of them were proved eligible for getting podu land pattas in entire Siddipet.
Since Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has announced that the government was preparing to issue pattas of podu lands to tribals by the end of this month, officials are now busy preparing an accurate list of STs who were in possession of forest lands in erstwhile Medak district.