Kadapa Collector Cancels 2007 Brahmani Industries Allotment, Reclaims Nearly 14,000 Acres

What was decided

The Kadapa District Collector, Cherukuri Sridhar, issued an order cancelling the 2007 allotment of land to Brahmani Industries Limited, the company promoted by mining businessman Gali Janardhana Reddy. Andhra Pradesh revenue authorities officially reclaimed around 14,000 acres of land in Jammalamadugu mandal of Kadapa district from the private company after it failed to build a steel plant and airport there, the purpose for which it was allotted, with the district collector's order taking possession of the parcel and cancelling the 2007 allotment. The reclaimed land is located at Ambavaram in Jammalamadugu mandal of YSR Kadapa district.

Legal basis and administrative steps

The Kadapa District Collector cancelled the allotment under the provisions of BSO-24(6) and G.O. Ms. No. 57, and directed the Jammalamadugu Tahsildar to take possession of the land within 48 hours. Revenue authorities completed the resumption process by restoring the land as government property in the revenue records, and the District Registrar has been instructed not to permit any registrations, leases or other transactions involving the reclaimed land.

The collector's order followed the company allegedly failing to use the land for the purposes for which it had been allotted.

Why it took 18 years

Back in 2007, when the Congress-led government was in power in united Andhra Pradesh, the then chief minister allotted roughly 14,000 acres of land to Gali Janardhana Reddy for the construction of a steel plant in Kadapa district on 10,760 acres, and an airport on 3,115 acres. However, none of this materialised except for a boundary wall and a couple of sheds for storing construction material, and Janardhana Reddy instead pledged the 10,000-acre parcel as collateral for a Rs 350 crore loan from Axis Bank.

The delay stemmed from legal complications after Axis Bank, which had granted the loan, moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking ownership of the hypothecated land once the allotment was revoked, and Andhra Pradesh's 2014 bifurcation caused further delay before encumbrances could be cleared and the land taken back. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India had earlier termed the original land allotment "injudicious" and in direct violation of state rules, citing irregularities including the alienation of water bodies around the Gandikota reservoir.

Terms of the original 2007 allotment

The land, valued at more than Rs 5,000 crore at current market price, was given at a throwaway price of Rs 18-25 crore to Gali Janardhana Reddy by the late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. A separate historical account put the per-acre rate at around Rs 18,500 per acre for the roughly 10,670 acres allotted to Brahmani Steels. An earlier report described the deal as land sold at Rs 26 lakh per acre with the opposition alleging the state had gifted away land worth Rs 3,000 crore. Figures vary across reports; readers should treat the exact historic rate as approximate.

Practical effect and stated future use

Officials have indicated that the land could now be earmarked for future industrial development, with the government expected to use the 14,000-acre land bank for future industrial projects. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the reclamation frees up the parcel for additional industrial and infrastructure projects.

The timing coincides with progress on a separate, unrelated steel project nearby: Naidu had earlier the same month launched construction of the long-awaited JSW Rayalaseema Integrated Steel plant at Sunnapuralla Palli, also in Jammalamadugu mandal. That JSW project involves its own, separately allotted land: the state government allotted 1,100 acres of land to JSW at a concessional rate of Rs 5 lakh per acre for a large-scale integrated steel plant in Sunnapurallapalle village, YSR Kadapa district. The JSW allotment is not part of the newly reclaimed 14,000 acres and should not be confused with it.

Relationship to the Kopparthy Industrial Area (NICDC)

This reclamation is a separate district land-bank matter and is not part of the officially notified Kopparthy Industrial Area, the NICDC-backed greenfield industrial smart city also located in Kadapa district. The Kopparthy Industrial Area, located in Kadapa District under the Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor, spans 2,596 acres and is strategically connected by SH 51 and NH 40, about 13 km from Kadapa Airport. It is being implemented through AP Industrial Corridors Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (APICDC), a 50:50 joint venture between the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) and the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), with NICDC acting as project development company and knowledge partner. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kopparthy and Orvakal greenfield industrial parks in Andhra Pradesh, together representing a combined investment of Rs 4,920 crore.

Officials' references to the reclaimed 14,000 acres feeding a district "industrial land bank" are general statements about future district-level use, not a formal notification adding this land to the Kopparthy node. No source found to date shows a government order merging or earmarking the Ambavaram/Jammalamadugu parcel specifically for the Kopparthy Industrial Area.

Political and legal background

The timing is notable because CM Naidu had just launched construction of the JSW Rayalaseema Integrated Steel plant, delayed by nearly 20 years, making the reclamation significant for the Rayalaseema region. Commentators have framed the land reclamation as a political win for the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), currently in power in Andhra Pradesh. Separately, Janardhan Reddy was arrested by the CBI in a related probe and was, as of that reporting, in remand in a jail in Bengaluru, and the CBI's investigation into Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy's disproportionate-assets case had named Brahmani Industries Limited among companies alleged to have received favours from the earlier YSR government.