The Hindu            14.10.2014  

Rs. 170-cr. worth encroached govt. land recovered in 4 days

Over the past four days, the Bangalore Urban district
administration has recovered 31 acres of encroached government land
worth Rs. 170 crore in different parts of the city.

This
probably comes in the wake of the ongoing protest by the Anti
Land-grabbing Action Committee led by freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy,
for over a month now.

While the committee claims that
over 40,000 acres is estimated to be encroached in the city, according
to the district administration, the extent of encroachment is around
34,111 acres. Of this, around 14,563 acres – a mere 42.7 per cent – has
been recovered since 2007.

‘Action plan ready’

Additional
District Commissioner R. Venkatachalapathy claimed that an action plan
had been formulated to recover the remaining 19,548 acres. Though the
action against encroachers coincides with the ongoing protest, he termed
this as a “regular drive”, part of the action plan chalked out by the
district administration.

However, critical of the
government’s action in recovering the encroached land, former MLA A.T.
Ramaswamy, who headed the Joint Legislature Committee on encroachment
and grabbing of government land in Bangalore, said that the “recovery
drive” was just a tip of the iceberg. His report on encroachments in the
city was submitted to the government in 2007.

He
pointed out that apart from recovering the encroachments, the government
must initiate action against land sharks, who have created fake
documents to claim ownership over government land. “Land sharks,
politicians and bureaucrats have colluded with the government. There are
many government officials who have created fake documents for
land-grabbing. This scam could be worth around Rs. 2 lakh crore,” he
alleged.

‘Invoke Goonda Act’

Mr.
Ramaswamy said that the two special deputy commissioners recently
appointed by the government have been entrusted with the investigation
and identification of land-grab cases across the city. The committee has
been demanding that the land-grabbers be booked under the Goonda Act
and tried in special courts to be instituted once the Karnataka Land
Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill is enacted.

Meanwhile,
Deputy Commissioner of Bangalore (Urban) District V. Shankar claimed
that the district administration has been booking criminal cases against
the encroachers under the amended sections of the Karnataka Land
Reforms Act and under the IPC. “We are not even sparing government
officials who are found to be hand-in-glove with the encroachers,” he
claimed.