Irregularities in land allotment made during YSR reign: CAG

CAG castigates Congress over indiscriminate allocation of land

PTI | March 30, 2012



The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pointed out "grave irregularities" in land allotments between 2006 and 2011 in Andhra Pradesh to several companies which had invested heavily in business ventures of Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

The CAG report, tabled in the Assembly on Thursday, covered the period from 2006 to 2011 but majority of the allotments were made when Jagan's father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was the state Chief Minister (till Septmber 2009).

Promoters of the companies, which are the under the CBI scanner, have invested heavily in the business ventures of Jaganmohan Reddy, including his Telugu newspaper and television channel Sakshi.

The CAG castigated the Congress government over the indiscriminate allocation of land to Brahmani Industries Limited, Lepakshi Knowledge Hub, Vanpic (Vadarevu-Nizampatnam Port and Industrial Corridor), Aurobindo Pharma and others.

The Emaar Properties scandal, which is being investigated by CBI, has come in for critical review by CAG also.

"In the cases of land allotment to private entities, the government followed a pick-and-choose approach, without openly inviting any Expression of Interest from potential investors.

"There was no discernible pattern in the grant of concessions to the allottees", Accountant General (Civil Audit) of Andhra Pradesh Vani Sriram said in her report.

"Since in the large majority of cases, the envisaged development projects have not materialized, the public purposes for which the land was alienated at cheap rates have not been fulfilled", the report said adding "instead, it has merely facilitated growth of the real estate business of private developers."

It said although hundreds of acres of lands were transferred to various applicants for creation of Special Economic Zones and industrial parks, the stated objectives of such transfers in terms of employment and economic growth remained unachieved.

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