Revenue ranks first among the government departments that have long been notorious for corruption. Since it deals with the sale and purchase of land, and the price of land in the state is rising daily, naturally, the department is prone to becoming a hotbed of irregularities and corruption. The increase in price when land registered as land becomes homestead over time doubles! When there was a provision for land reclassification, many frauds started taking place in the revenue offices related to such reclassifications. As paper applications piled up in village offices, the government brought in a reform to facilitate convenience. Applications for conversion of land have been made completely online. A disadvantage is that there are enough loopholes for fraud and corruption.

As such irregularities increased, the vigilance department conducted extensive raids on revenue offices under the name of Operation Conversion. Through these raids, the terrible face of a huge corruption business behind land reclassification has been exposed. In the meantime, information has come to light that private agencies, some retired officials from the revenue department, and others are working as part of the land allotment mafia. The most shocking finding was that the mobile number of a single agency was found among the 700 applications submitted for conversion.

This kind of fraud is widespread, even advertising that land notified under the Paddy-Wetland Conservation Act can be exempted from the databank. Find the owner of the land in the databank and they will seal the deal! Thus, from the investigation, it is clear that there is a fee of 10 cents to 50 cents for declassification of land up to three lakhs. Palakkad, a district of paddy fields, is the busiest for conversion. Out of 700 applications registered with a single mobile number of a private agency, 166 are only in Palakkad district! This figure shows the extent of the irregularities and corruption behind them.

Vigilance Department is preparing for a detailed investigation of all the applications found in such suspicious circumstances. While this investigation is progressing, find out the information about how many crores of corruption are going on through land reclassification. No one with even a piece of land can avoid the revenue department. Unfortunately, a large number of landlords think it's okay to spend a little money to get things going. That is what opens the door for corrupt people. Operation Conversion Raid points to the need to make land conversion-related activities in the revenue department fully transparent and subject to strict checks. At least now, if such action is not taken, Kerala as a whole will become a commodity of the land mafia.