Karnataka, Telangana lock horns over border village in Yadgir

The Telangana government has made claims that 47 acres of the land, which comes under Karnataka, belongs to them and sought full control of the lake area.
Image used for representational purpose.
Image used for representational purpose.

YADGIR: Karnataka and Telangana have got into a territorial dispute after people from Telangana kicked off sand mining at a lake in Cheleri village in Yadgir district. The area, according to Karnataka officials, falls within the state’s boundary.

The Telangana government has made claims that 47 acres of the land, which comes under Karnataka, belongs to them and sought full control of the lake area.

The dispute surfaced on December 22 last year after villagers found that the village panchayat of Telangana has been carrying out sand mining at the 143 acre and 8 gunta lake in Cheleri village in Gurmatkal assembly constituency, which is set to become a taluk headquarter.

Muhammad Ijaz-Ul-Haq, special tahsildar, Gurmatkal, told The New Indian Express that after villagers complained about the mining activity, officials visited the area on December 23.  “The Assistant Director of Land Records has written a letter in this regard to the Deputy Commissioner of Yadgir district,” he said.
On January 4, officials from both the states met at the lake area.

The Telangana revenue officials claimed that of the total extent of the lake land, 47 acres belong to the Telangana government. The Karnataka revenue officials showed the map of Cheleri village that was mapped during the Nizam’s regime in Hyderabad-Karnataka showing that the entire lake belonged to the state.

But this was disputed by Telangana officials, who showed a map of Utkoor village depicting that the said land falls under Utkoor. This map too was made during the Nizam’s rule. On January 4, both the states prepared the panchnama and signed an agreement to maintain the status quo till a new survey happens.

Yadgir Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath said he would discuss the matter with his counterpart in Mehboobnagar district. Since, this is an inter-state border issue, a high-level meeting has to be held to resolve it. He said there was overlapping in the demarcation of the lake which caused the confusion. On whether Karnataka is allowing sand mining in the area, he said this is restricted in that region.

Agreement violated

Bhimashappa, a resident of Cheleri village in Yadgir district, said on January 9, a group of people from Telangana carried out sand mining in the lake area, which is in violation of the agreement.

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