Former Minister T Harish Rao has accused Congress leaders and senior officials of large-scale irregularities in the Bhu Bharati portal, alleging that middlemen pocketed 90 percent of land registration fees. He demanded that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the scam, which he claimed spans 37 mandals and nearly one crore acres.
Published Date – 28 February 2026, 03:19 PM
Jangaon: Accusing several Congress leaders and senior officials of involvement in irregularities in the Bhu Bharati portal, former Minister T Harish Rao demanded that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the scam.
Applicants were paying the full fee for registration of agricultural lands. However, by using the edit option in the Bhu Bharati portal, only 10 percent of the fee was being paid to the government, while the remaining 90 percent was allegedly being pocketed by middlemen, he charged.
Addressing a meeting at the BRS party office here on Saturday, the former Minister said these irregularities were continuing in 37 mandals, yet intelligence agencies remained unaware of the scam, reflecting the failure of the Congress government, he said, adding that unless media reports highlighted the issue, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy remained unaware of the scam.
Several Congress leaders and senior officials were involved, and to protect them, a few operators were arrested as an eyewash measure, he said.
“Revanth Reddy is setting up Commissions and SITs to present the opposition leaders in bad light and trouble them. Why is the Congress government not investigating the Bhu Bharati scam?” Harish Rao asked and demanded that an SIT be constituted immediately and the culprits be punished severely.
Stating that several lakhs of acres were deliberately categorised under prohibited lands and cleared only after illegal collections were made.
In the garb of prohibited lands, from Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy to mandal-level officials, everyone was allegedly involved in irregularities and collections.
“This rampant scam has now covered nearly one crore acres. Despite High Court observations, the Congress government failed to initiate action. A white paper should be released on the prohibited lands in the State,” Harish Rao insisted, recalling that during the KCR government’s tenure, 6.18 lakh farmers received passbooks after Sada Bainama free of cost, while about 8.92 lakh farmers had filed applications in the second phase.
However, after the Congress government came to power, new rules required land sellers to submit affidavits on bond paper, and due to this rule, not a single farmer had been able to complete a Sada Bainama so far, he said.
“The bond paper rule should be removed immediately and justice should be done to the 8.92 lakh farmers,” he demanded.
He said that while in opposition, the Congress had promised to process LRS applications free of cost, but fees were now being collected from applicants. Similarly, Rs.300 was being charged for issuing passbooks during registration, and even after six months, not a single passbook had been issued, he alleged.
During the BRS government’s tenure, passbooks were delivered to applicants’ homes within a week of registration, whereas officials were now citing various reasons, including online snags and NIC software issues, he said, demanding that the Revenue Minister should give an explanation to the farmers over these failures.
ధరణి మీద బురదజల్లి భూ భారతి తెచ్చామని గొప్పలు చెప్పిన కాంగ్రెస్..
రాష్ట్ర ప్రభుత్వ ఖజానాకు గండి కొడుతూ దళారులకు భూ హారతి పడుతోంది.పేలని బాంబుల మంత్రి పొంగులేటి శ్రీనివాస్ రెడ్డి మొదలుకొని మండల స్థాయి అధికారుల వరకు.. అందరూ కలిసి నిషేధిత భూముల పేరుతో వసూళ్లకు పాల్పడుతున్నారు.… pic.twitter.com/3eTEKSD4WK
— BRS Party (@BRSparty) February 28, 2026
Harish Rao alleged that after Revanth Reddy became Chief Minister, one lakh acres of assigned lands belonging to SC and ST communities in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medchal districts were grabbed. The Congress government had funds to construct camp offices, parks, conduct football matches, and pay compensation for demolitions along the Musi riverbanks, it did not have funds to extend Rythu Bandhu assistance to farmers.
During Chandrashekhar Rao’s tenure, Rythu Bandhu assistance was extended on time, whereas Revanth Reddy was releasing it based on electoral considerations, he said, adding that if MPTC and ZPTC elections were scheduled, the assistance would have been released promptly.
The former Irrigation Minister also criticised the Congress government for failing to protect Telangana’s share in Krishna river waters. He alleged that while the Andhra Pradesh government was diverting Telangana’s share from Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam, the Chief Minister had not taken effective steps to stop the diversion.
“Refrain from delivering cinema dialogues and take up the issue with the union Minister and stop the exploitation,” Harish Rao demanded, adding that Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy had failed to safeguard the State’s interests.
“If this exploitation is permitted to continue, then Hyderabad will face a water shortage in the coming days,” he warned.
