Minister admits to corruption in revenue department

Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda acknowledged corruption in his department during a discussion in the Legislative Council on Wednesday. He stated that while not all officials are corrupt, there are issues, particularly with fake documents used for land encroachments. His comments came after Congress member Yathindra Siddaramaiah raised concerns about delays in khata issuance for farmers. Opposition leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy highlighted corruption claims made by the Chief Minister’s son. Gowda responded that bringing party politics into the matter was inappropriate and pointed out that many khata applications are still pending. On the issue of government land encroachments, Gowda mentioned that he has instructed the administration to remove encroachments two days a week. He also said they will identify encroached properties to stop any further transactions. He admitted that some officials are making fake documents to enable encroachments and noted that legal changes are being made to help address these problems.