BENGALURU: Some people in collusion with government officials have been creating fake documents and grabbing government lands, said Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda.
Replying to JDS MLC Saravana at the Council on Wednesday, the minister said, “With the help of some government officials, people create land documents. These officials do not respond to court notices related to encroachment cases and pretend to wake up only after the cases reach the stage of inviting contempt of court and let the cases get dragged for more than ten years.”
The MLC had questioned what measures have been taken to protect government lands and steps taken to reclaim encroached lands. He said such immoral acts by some officials will not be tolerated and the government is taking steps to bring in laws that will help in fighting the contempt of court cases, win them and recover encroached government lands.
Admitting that they have only cleared encroachments that didn’t pose any hurdles, the minister said, “There are many cases of land allotted by sub-divisional officers, tahsildars and special district officers illegally. Such land allotments should be cancelled, which requires a legal battle.”
Byre Gowda said a land beat system will be introduced in a year, which will help them keep track of government lands through geo-fencing and prevent their encroachments.
He told the House that 272 complaints -- 77 from Yelahanka taluk -- have been received in the last three years in Bengaluru related to government land encroachment. Byre Gowda said of the total complaints received, 132 acres of encroachments have been cleared and steps will be taken to conduct regular encroachment clearance drives on Saturdays and Sundays.