Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao’s decision to increase market value of lands from February all of a sudden came as a big shock to land buyers in Telangana.

This is because the land values were increased in Telangana only six months ago in July 2021. This triggered a debate in political circles that there is a ‘hidden agenda’ behind land value increase.

Telangana state was formed in 2014 and KCR became Telangana CM also in 2014. KCR did not give permission to hike land values for seven years until July 2021. Prior to that, land values were revised by previous Kiran Kumar Reddy government in Undivided AP in 2013, which KCR continued till 2021.

As per rules, the market value of lands should be hiked every two years. But KCR kept calm for seven years. What prompted KCR to keep calm for seven years to increase market values of lands earlier and now what prompted KCR to increase land values twice within six months.

It is believed that KCR did not increase land values from 2014 to 2021 as TRS government was busy acquiring thousands of acres for various irrigation projects like Kaleshwaram, Palamur Rangareddy, Seetharama etc besides other projects like Hyderabad Pharma City, Kakatiya Mega Textile Park etc. If market values were increased then, KCR’s government would have faced a huge financial burden as it had to pay higher compensation for landowners based on increased land values.

Now that, the entire land acquisition for all projects has been over, KCR decided to hike market value of lands. In this way, KCR planned ‘double benefit’ for TRS government and ‘double loss’ for land owners and buyers.

KCR saved financial burden for TRS government in acquiring lands by not increasing land values earlier and now KCR is eyeing higher revenues for TRS government with increased market values as it will automatically fetch higher land registration charges for the government.