BENGALURU: Though rampant encroachment of government and forest lands is evident in other districts too, there would be no anti-encroachment drive of the kind undertaken in Bengaluru, at least till December, Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa said on Tuesday.
“There is no question of evicting encroachments in other districts till the petitions received for regularisation of unauthorised (Bagair Hukum) cultivation are disposed of. Tahsildars have been instructed to dispose of all petitions by the end of December. So there would be no eviction of encroachers from government or forest lands in other districts till December end. However, the eviction drive in Bengaluru will continue,” he said.
So far, about 7 lakh applications have been received for regularisation of unauthorised cultivation in government lands. About 15 lakh acres of forest land would be free from dispute after these applications are disposed of.
Referring to complaints against tahsildars for insisting on particular documents from cultivators to consider their claim for the land, Kagodu said that the state government has sent revised guidelines to tahsildars in this regard. It is enough for the applicants to submit any two documents to stake claim for the lands involved.
He blamed officials for encroachment of government land and expressed shock at the rampant encroachment of lands by builders in Bengaluru. They will all be evicted, he said.