Revenue office fire outbreak: Special CS allays fears of farmers, assures justice

Madanapalle farmers seek justice after important land records are destroyed, leading to protests and investigations by authorities.

The farmers of the Madanapalle revenue division are a worried lot after important land records got gutted in the fire outbreak at the Madanapalle Sub-Collector’s office. The farmers tried to voice their grievances to the authorities and sought assurance that their land was safe from encroachments. They also sought justice in case their lands were being encroached.

On Friday, July 26, Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) R.P. Sisodia received petitions from the victims of land grabbing and other land-related issues at the Sub-Collector’s office here. Although the program for accepting the petitions ended on Thursday, many victims who did not know about the programme reached the office on Friday morning and protested. As the police did not allow the victims inside the office, they waited at the entrance gate.

The victims tried to stop Mr. Sisodia’s car as it left the office premises and he got out of the car and took petitions from the victims. Later, Mr. Sisodia said on Thursday alone, about 400 petitions were received in addition to about 20 on Friday.

He said that all the petitions would be looked into and justice would be done to the victims and added that the investigation into the fire outbreak incident and incidents of land grabbing elsewhere in the division was in progress.

Many suspects were being interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the police. The staff of the Transco Department were also called for an inquiry. CID Chief Ravi Shankar Ayyannar reviewed the ongoing investigation into the incident at the Deputy SP’s office here on Thursday and Friday.

Revenue Divisional Officer (Madanapalle) Hari Prasad, his predecessor Murali, senior assistant Gautam Tej, and Village Revenue Assistant Ramanaiah have been in police custody for the last five days. The CID police are examining the call data of the revenue personnel and the suspects, it is observed.