The Visakhapatnam district administration on June 13, Sunday, reclaimed 49.05 acres of land, with an estimated value of Rs 792 crore in Tunglam, Jaggarajupeta and Kurmannapalem. The land was allegedly encroached by former legislator of Gajuwaka, Palla Srinivasa Rao, who is also TDP’s president for the Visakhapatnam Parliamentary constituency.

According to reports, the Revenue Department had received complaints that some of the lands were allegedly occupied by Palla Srinivasa Rao's brother Shankara Rao. Officials said that the encroached lands were given for lease to small industries and rent of lakhs of rupees were collected annually. Following the survey carried out by the Revenue Department, they identified that about 56.07 acres of land was allegedly encroached by the Palla's family members, of which 49.5 acres of land was seized and placed warning boards along the site.

According to the district administration, it has reclaimed 430.81 acres of encroached government land as part of its special drive jointly conducted by the Revenue Department and the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation in the last one year. According to reports, most of the lands reclaimed from the encroachers were in Visakhapatnam Rural, Anandapuram, Gajuwaka and Sabbavaram mandals. The total value of these lands was around Rs 5,080 crore.

However, terming the actions of the government as a political vendetta, Palla Shankara Rao said that he had bought the land in Tunglam in 1992 from 56 farmers. Alleging that the administration had illegally demolished his structures and seized his land without serving any notices, Shankara Rao said that the action was taken after his brother refused to join the ruling YSRCP.

Responding to the issue, Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao said that it was essential to book criminal cases and put the political leaders involved in land grabbing behind the bars.

The minister said that Palla Srinivasa Rao allegedly had 61 acres of encroached land in his possession at Jaggarajupeta, Tunglam and other areas of Vizag. He alleged that a large-scale land grabbing was done by TDP leaders during the tenure of N Chandrababu Naidu in 2014. To cover up their lapses, the TDP is projecting the land recovery being done by the YSRCP government as ‘Visakhapatnam being put for sale,’ he said.