In a move that will benefit over 97,000 farmers in Andhra Pradesh, the state government has permanently de-notified more than 2 lakh acres of British-era ‘dotted lands’ from a prohibited list, restoring full rights to farmers owning them. The farmers will now be able to sell and pledge these lands, besides enjoying other normal rights as owners of the land, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy said. ‘Dotted lands’ are lands under dispute, with the government and an individual or individuals claiming rights over them. The practice of categorising lands as ‘dotted lands’ began in the British era with the government placing dots in the ‘pattadar’ (land ownership passbook and document) column to indicate their disputed status. In spite of cultivating the lands for decades, thousands of farmers could not sell or mortgage the lands for loans as they were deemed disputed on the title deeds. Launching the programme at Kavali in Nellore district last week, Reddy said that all dotted lands have been removed from the prohibited list thereby benefiting 97,471 farmer families across the state. He further said the move will provide full rights to farmers owning 2,06,171 acres of ‘dotted lands’, worth Rs 20,000 crore. “Farmers suffered a lot as they were not allowed to sell or pledge these lands. The government’s initiative has permanently ended the ‘dotted lands’ problem created during the British era,” he added. Reddy said the pro-farmer Andhra government has been implementing several programmes for the welfare of farmers. “The government has distributed 3 lakh acres as RoFR (Recognition of Forest Rights) pattas (land ownership title deeds) to 1.28 lakh tribal families by allotting two acres each, besides removing 35,000 conditional patta lands from the list of prohibited lands, thereby benefiting 22,000 farmer families, and distributing 31 lakh house site pattas to women,” he added. The government has also taken up the resurvey of lands after 100 years by implementing the YSR Jagananna Saswatha Bhu Hakku and Bhu Raksha scheme, CM Reddy said, adding that the government has provided 7,92,238 permanent title deeds to farmers in 2,000 villages in the first phase. The second phase of the programme will take off from next month, he added.
