‘Thousands of acres given away in Andhra’

“Allotment of land by the state government during 2006-11 was characterised by grave irregularities,involving allotment in an ad hoc,arbitrary and discretionary manner to private persons/entities at very low rates,without safeguarding financial and socio-economic interests of the state,” says the CAG report. It also raises questions about allotments made by Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and the allotments for SEZs.

During 2006-11,the government allotted 88,492 acres to 1,027 beneficiaries. In the 11 sampled districts,459 allotments were made,involving 50,285.90 acres of land. Out of these,409 cases were scrutinised in audit,revealing irregularities. Among these:

n 3,115.64 acres were allotted in Jammalamadugu Mandal,YSR Kadapa district,to Brahmani to set up an airport and flying academy. This overlooked a policy of not setting up two airports too close to each other — the Kadapa airport is just 50 km away.

n Brahmani was also allotted 10,760.66 acres in the same mandal for a greenfield steel plant. It included 674.58 acres of water bodies and meant allocation of 2 TMC of water from Gandikota reservoir,which was allowed without environmental clearance.

n The request of OMC for grant of lease of 413.81 acres was turned down by the Anantapur collector in August 2008. But within a month,the Collector,at the request of APIIC,recommended allotment of 304.66 acres to APIIC (for transfer to OMC) for establishment of an industrial park. The reasons were not recorded.