CPI(M) Polit Bureau member B.V. Raghavulu has appealed to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to take measures to resolve the decades’-old Panchagramalu land dispute in Visakhapatnam district, stating that nearly two lakh residents continue to suffer due to the unresolved issue.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister on Tuesday, Mr. Raghavulu recalled that during the first Cabinet meeting held in Visakhapatnam in 2014, the government had promised to resolve the issue within 100 days. However, even after 12 years, the dispute remained unresolved, he said.

Mr. Raaghavulu alleged that during 1996-97, ryotwari pattas for 9,063.22 acres out of 11,282.26 acres in the Panchagramalu region had been granted to the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple through the Pendurthi and Chinnagadili MRO offices ‘without sufficient supporting records.”

Based on these pattas and a subsequent G.O. issued in 2000, thousands of long-time residents were branded as encroachers, the CPI(M) leader alleged.

Mr. Raghavulu said the pattas were later cancelled by then Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, but governments continued to recognise them. He pointed out that Assembly and official committees, as well as revenue authorities, had reportedly found irregularities in the pattas and recommended re-surveys and regularisation of occupied lands.

The CPI(M) leader said restrictions on registrations, property transactions, house construction and repairs had created severe hardship for the residents, including tribal communities living in the hill areas.

Citing historical survey records from 1903, the CPI(M) leader claimed that only 39.5 acres were recorded as temple land, while the remaining was categorised as cultivable, barren, poramboke and forest land.

He urged the Chief Minister to intervene, restore registrations and permit construction and repair works until a permanent solution was reached.