ACB to probe corruption charges against CRDA officials

Vijayawada: Taking the complaints of capital city Amaravati's farmers on a serious note, Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar has asked to ACB DG to conduct a comprehensive probe into the corruption charges against the officials working the CRDA. It is recalled that Katamaneni Bhaskar had terminated one computer data entry operator named Ashok from service after a video of his telephonic conversation with a farmer, demanding bribe, went viral on social media. This apart, the CRDA commissioner had also asked the Thullur police inspector to initiate criminal proceedings against Ashok. His decision is now creating ripples in the administration as several CRDA field-level officers were said to have become money-spinning machines for both middlemen and the staff.According to information, the farmers have been complaining about ‘tortures' by CRDA officials for long as the officials were alleged to have been deliberately delaying the process of registration of returnable plots, despite production of valid documents. Recently, the victim farmers brought the issue to the notice of municipal administration minister Dr Narayana during his field visit. However, the minister, who set his focus on pooling of the remaining land in the capital city area, ignored the grievances of farmers, allegedlyignored the grievances of farmers who had parted their land through the land pooling scheme (LPS).The CRDA commissioner noticed the delay in completion of registration of returnable plots and deployed additional staff in the field level offices. He got special deputy collectors, tehsildars and sub-registrars on deputation to CRDA to resolve the grievances of the farmers. He reportedly set a target to complete at least 300 registrations per day. However, the officials were found finishing just around 100 transactions despite deployment of additional staff.The farmers alleged that the staff were deliberately creating troubles by raising unnecessary queries with regard to the documents to be produced for registration. "They are creating one issue after another only to demand bribes," alleged farmer Ch Narasimha Rao of Rayapudi village. He said that the registration process would be completed only after the demanded amount was given. In the issue in which data entry operator Ashok was terminated, he had allegedly asked a farmer named Sudheer of Abbarajupalem at least Rs1 lakh for finishing the registration of his 1500 sq.yard of residential and 360 sq.yard of commercial plot allocated by the CRDA.