Vizag land scam - Government sits on SIT report

VISAKHAPATNAM: It has been six months since the SIT has submitted a voluminous report based on its meticulous probe into the Vizag land scam but the state government is yet to take any action based on its recommendations.
Contents of the 3000-page document are also not made public, consequently providing ammunition to the opposition to question as what could be inhibiting the Chandrababu Naidu government from revealing the substance of the report.
Following the public and political uproar over the alleged land scam in the Visakhapatnam district whose worth is said to run into rupees thousands of crore, the Andhra Pradesh government had in June 2017 constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by a senior IPS officer Vineet Brijlal.
The mammoth land scam involves tampering of land records, encroachment of government lands. Several of such instances were allegedly at the behest of some prominent TDP leaders.
The ruling party is conscious that the opposition parties like the YSRCP, Janasena, and now the friend turned foe BJP too would make this an issue in the impending elections in 2019.
The SIT, which also has Visakhapatnam joint collector Srijana Gummalla as a member, began its probe on June 28. The team, after two extensions, submitted its report on 29 January to the state, formally handing it to Vizag City Police Commissioner T Yoganand. Incidentally, Yoganand was relieved from his post on Monday to allow him take charge as additional CP, Vijayawada before his superannuation soon.
“I think the report is being processed in the proper channels though I am not aware of what stage it is in now. Anyhow, our brief was to complete the enquiry and submit the report. We have done that job,” Brijlal told ToI on Tuesday.
The report, it is learnt from another official, is still in consideration at top levels of government in Amaravati.
YSRCP leaders maintain they would seek a CBI probe “when their party comes to power, as they have no faith in the SIT probe or the state.”
“The concealment of the report has further emboldened the land grabbers around Vizag who enjoy the support of those in power,” says Malla Vijay Prasad, Vizag city president of YSRCP.