Telangana land rights efforts have resulted in more than 12.40 lakh pattadar passbooks being issued over the past 34 months, according to Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, who said the state was using resurveys to provide formal ownership and address long-pending land disputes.
The minister reviewed the implementation of the Bhu Bharati Act, the distribution of pattadar passbooks, statewide land resurveys and the disposal of land-related grievances at a meeting with senior revenue officials at the state secretariat. He directed officials to make revenue services faster, transparent and more accessible at the field level.
Of the total passbooks issued, 5.68 lakh were distributed after the Bhu Bharati Act came into force on April 14, 2025. The legislation was introduced with the stated objective of making Telangana free from land disputes, the minister said.
The programme is also focused on farmers who have cultivated land for decades without formal recognition in government records. According to the minister, resurveys are being used to identify such cultivators and grant them legal ownership. Formal land records can help eligible farmers access bank loans, Rythu Bharosa and other government welfare benefits, he said.
The government cited specific results from districts where resurveys have been completed. In Narayanapuram revenue village in Kesamudram mandal of Mahabubabad district, 906 tribal and non-tribal farmers received land rights covering more than 1,600 acres.
In another exercise covering 15 villages in Nutankal and Maddirala mandals of Suryapet district, land titles were issued to 2,400 farmers across 3,450 acres. The minister said these measures were helping farmers overcome difficulties caused by the absence of proper land records and instructed officials to replicate the exercises in other regions.
The initiative places the field-level functioning of the revenue administration at the centre of the state’s land-records effort. While the issuance of passbooks provides a measurable administrative outcome, the government has also linked the process to the resolution of disputes and recognition of people cultivating land without corresponding formal records.
Ponguleti said government decisions would benefit people only when they were implemented efficiently at the grassroots. During the review, he examined the progress of resurveys in Mulkapalli mandal of Mulugu district; Palwancha, Aswaraopeta and Dammapeta mandals of Bhadradri Kothagudem district; and Sathupalli mandal of Khammam district.
The revenue department’s next steps, as outlined at the meeting, are to continue the resurveys, identify eligible beneficiaries, issue pending land titles and extend the exercise to additional regions. Officials have been directed to ensure that beneficiaries receive their recognised ownership rights without further delay.
