Hyderabad: A massive eight-lakh acres’ gap has been uncovered between the Sethwar land records and Dharani digital land records. The revenue department has initiated corrective measures as part of the ongoing transition from Dharani portal to Bhu Bharati portal. As of now, revenue officials have addressed discrepancies in two lakh acres by deleting bi-survey numbers linked to non-existent lands in base survey numbers.Efforts are now focused on resolving the remaining six lakh acres of ‘excess and non-existent’ land.According to official sources, the Sethwar records (the traditional land register) for certain districts show a total land area of 26.98 lakh acres under base survey numbers. However, the Dharani digital records list 32.80 lakh acres —an excess of nearly six lakh acres. This discrepancy has been traced to the creation of by-survey numbers linked to base survey numbers, even though no such lands actually exist.Asifabad district has been identified as the most affected, with discrepancies spanning 90,000 acres. Mulugu district follows with 34,000 acres, while Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri, and Sangareddy districts show discrepancies of 28,000 acres, 16,000 acres, and 16,000 acres, respectively.To resolve the anomalies, officials are cross-verifying the Dharani digital records with Sethwar (also known as the Resurvey Settlement Register of 1956).The Congress government approved the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights) Act, 2024, in the Assembly last December. The new Act was designed to replace the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Passbooks Act, 2020, brought in by the BRS government, as well as the Dharani portal, also introduced by the BRS regime. The revenue department is currently drafting the operational guidelines for the Bhu Bharati portal, which is expected to go live in March, once the guidelines are approved by the government.The Sethwar records, also known as the “A Register,” are the foundational land records for Telangana. They contain essential details such as survey numbers, land area, ownership, land type (Inam, government, poramboke), soil type, and sources of irrigation. These records were created as part of a land survey that began in 1936 and was completed in 1956.The Dharani portal’s land records were uploaded in 2016, using data available from the revenue department without field-level verification or surveys. The data primarily relied on surveys conducted in the 1930s during the Nizam period. It did not account for changes in ownership or land boundaries that occurred over the decades. Additionally, revenue officials resorted to irregularities and created multiple bi-survey numbers for land parcels that exceeded the extent of base survey numbers, resulting in discrepancies between official land records and ground realities.This mismatch in records has led to multiple problems, including discrepancies in land extent, ownership, possession, and survey numbers.It has also led to huge losses to the state exchequer, as owners of non-existent agricultural lands availed of various government schemes worth thousands of crores, like Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, crop loan waivers, and Rythu Bharosa—since 2014. These financial benefits, which amounted to thousands of crores, were provided based on inaccurate land records, both under the BRS government (from 2014 to 2023) and the current Congress regime (since December 2023).The Congress government is now working to rectify these issues before replacing the Dharani portal with the Bhu Bharati portal next month, bringing in more reliable land records for farmers and stakeholders.
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