‘Will pay price’, TDP MP defends regularisation of GITAM land

AS the regularisation of 54.79 acres of undercoat shore allegedly encroached upon by GITAM, a common soldier deemed to be university in Visakhapatnam, snowballs into a john r. Major tilt, university chairman and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) lawmaker Mathukumilli Sribharat has said the institution would pay the price fixed for regularisation by the Andhra Pradesh government.The land regularisation process by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) came under strong criticism from opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who accused chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu of handing 54.79 acres of prime land worth nearly ₹5,000 crore to his family member Sribharat.“The encroached land was recovered and fenced during the previous YSRCP regime but it was now being gifted to Naidu’s family member free of cost,” Reddy alleged.Sribharat is son-in-law of actor and TDP legislator Nandamuri Balakrishna, who is Naidu’s brother-in-law.On January 30, the GVMC, in its council meeting, adopted a resolution regularising 54.79 acres of land at Rushikonda and Yendada villages, adjacent to GITAM campus in Visakhapatnam.Reacting sharply to Reddy’s allegation, Sribharat in a statement on Sunday said the land price being mentioned by YSRCP leaders was grossly exaggerated. He added that about 35 acres in the hill area near the campus was originally part of the Rajiv Swagruha housing project, intended for affordable housing for lower and middle-income groups. During the YSRCP government’s tenure, the land use was changed from residential to “mixed use,” after which it was subdivided into plots and auctioned.“Between 2022 and May 2024, the land was sold only at the reserve price of ₹60,000-65,000 per square yard, which would place the per-acre value at roughly ₹19.5 crore. By that calculation, the total value of 54.79 acres would not exceed ₹1,000 crore,” he said.The TDP MP alleged that in 2023, the then YSRCP government allotted around 11 acres located just a kilometre from the GITAM campus to an international school at only ₹1 crore per acre. “If land is really worth ₹100 crore per acre, why was it given away at such a low price?” he asked.Refuting the allegation that the land was being regularised free of cost, Sribharat said the process was still under government scrutiny. “The No Objection Certificate issued by the GVMC does not determine land pricing, and that the final decision would be taken only after the file goes through the CCLA (chief commissioner of land administration) and cabinet. We are prepared to pay the price fixed by the government. We have never sought free land,” he added.Social activist VV Ramana Murthy said there was a difference between allotment of land to a company and regularisation of encroached land. “It is illegal to regularise the encroached government land as per the Supreme Court directions. Encroachment does not create any legal right,” he said, adding GVMC does not have authority to legitimise long-standing encroachments of government land.He said even if the government has to regularise a land under long or disputed occupation, it can be considered for regularisation only by payment of the prevailing market value, strictly in accordance with law. “The regularisation is subject to legal scrutiny. It can be challenged in the court of law,” Ramana Murthy said.Former Union energy secretary and whistleblower EAS Sarma said several land parcels under occupation of GITAM University include prohibited government land as well as land earlier allotted to key state departments such as tourism.In a letter to special secretary (revenue) G Sai Prasad on Sunday, Sarma sought a detailed probe by central agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), citing the possibility of large-scale irregularities in the handling of valuable public land.