Telangana BJP Legislature Party leader Alleti Maheshwar Reddy on Wednesday alleged that the Revenue Department, which is responsible for protecting public property, has instead become a centre of ‘questionable’ land transactions, forcing citizens to make repeated visits to government offices to safeguard their land rights. Addressing a press conference at the BJP State office, he alleged that asking Revenue officials to investigate dubious land dealings is like “handing the keys to the thief”. Demanding transparency, Mr. Maheshwar Reddy called on Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy to disclose details of the forensic audit into alleged irregularities linked to the Dharani land records portal. The BJP leader questioned the rationale behind expanding the prohibited lands list from about 20 lakh acres to nearly one crore acres with cultivated by farmers too included in the list without valid justification. A “multi-crore rupee racket” was operating in the name of issuing No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to remove lands from the prohibited category, he charged.