Kavali, May 12: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday released more than 2 lakh acres of land from the British era's revenue records category of 'dotted lands', in one stroke, to accord all rights on them to nearly 1 lakh farmers at a public meeting in Kavali in Nellore district. He said 97,471 families will benefit from this move as these lands are deleted from Section 22 A of the registration law.

"Do you know the value of these lands locked in 22 A? The registration value alone is nearly Rs 8,000 crore and their market value is at least Rs 20,000 crore. We are giving all rights to 97,471 families on 2,06,170 acres of land,” the chief minister said.

In a video link shared by the state government, Reddy said the lands were categorised so and left like that more than 100 years ago in the revenue records or register resettlement register (RSR) by the colonial British government when they could not clearly establish ownership, whether private or public (government-owned). Who is India's Richest CM? YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Tops List, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik on Third, Check List of Wealthy Chief Ministers in Country.

Due to this dubious designation, farmers cultivating these lands for decades together were suffering because of lack of ownership, registration and mutation, including not being able to transact them for sale, security, mortgage and other purposes.

The CM noted that instead of solving the 'dotted lands' issue, the erstwhile TDP government had issued a memo in 2016 banning registrations under category 22 A. Andhra Pradesh Administration To Shift to Visakhapatnam in September, Announces CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Talking about the gravity of this problem, Reddy pointed out that Nellore district alone had 43,000 acres of dotted lands, neighbouring Prakasam district had 37,000 acres and Kadapa district had 22,000 acres. The extent of the problem was such that, considering all districts, more than 2 lakh acres in the state were classified as dotted lands. He said all these issues are now resolved in one stroke on Friday.