Hyderabad: State Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy has directed a comprehensive and aggressive crackdown on encroachments of Irrigation Department lands across Telangana. The Minister instructed officials to act on a “war footing” to reclaim encroached irrigation properties and fence them to prevent further illegal occupation.
During a high-level review meeting held today, Thursday, at Dr B.R. Ambedkar Telangana Secretariat, Uttam Kumar Reddy made it clear that there would be zero tolerance for irrigation land encroachments, especially given that these lands are worth hundreds of crores of rupees.
As part of the efforts to safeguard government lands, the Minister requested the Advocate General to appoint a special GP exclusively for the Irrigation Department to handle any legal complications arising during the land protection process.
Highlighting specific cases in Hyderabad, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that significant portions of land under WALAMTARI (Water and Land Management Training and Research Institute) and TGERL (Telangana Groundwater and Irrigation Research Laboratory) near Gandipet and Rajendranagar had been encroached. Out of 426.30 acres of land in these areas, 131.31 acres have been identified as encroached. Of this, 81.26 acres fall under the ITIR (Information Technology Investment Region) jurisdiction and are currently under court litigation, while the remaining 50.13 acres have been directly encroached. The Minister revealed that 20 cases related to these encroachments are pending in the district court, and another 2 cases are ongoing in the High Court.
To recover these high-value lands, the Minister instructed officials from the Irrigation Department, HYDRAA, Revenue, and R&R wings to work in close coordination. He also directed that the department prepare a complete inventory of all Irrigation Department lands, buildings, and quarters across Telangana on a priority basis. Furthermore, he instructed the immediate repossession of illegally occupied Irrigation Department residential quarters and asked officials to submit a comprehensive report on the same.
