The state government on Friday came out with a new land policy aimed at putting an end to discretionary allotment of thousands of acres of land by the government to industrial and infrastructure projects.
Principal revenue secretary Anil Chandra Pune-tha issued orders (GO Ms No. 571) to this effect on Friday. The orders were issued after the state Cabinet approved the new land policy at its meeting on September 1. A deadline of 90 days has been fixed to either approve or reject the request for allotment of land by the government for different purposes, including industrial and infrastructure projects.
The new land policy, a brainchild of Chief Minis-ter N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, makes it mandatory for departments to send proposals for land allotment to the authorities conce-rned within 30 days from receiving the request. The AP Land Management Authority has been constituted with the chief commissioner of land administration as chairman and principal secretaries and secretaries of about a dozen departments as members to go through and verify these proposals before allotment of land.
The authority will have to clear the proposal enab-ling the government to make the allotments. This process should be completed within 60 days from rec-eiving the request from the respective wings. The new policy will assess the optimum requirement of land for each project and make the allotment accordingly. The APLMA will also have power to review the allotments based on the progress of the project. The land will be resumed if it is misused.