Karnataka Revenue Minister asks officials to prepare list of encroached govt lands
BENGALURU: Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda asked department officials to prepare a preliminary list of government lands that have been encroached by land sharks, at the earliest, and instructed them to conduct eviction drives every weekend.
Chairing a meeting with the Chief Secretary, Bengaluru Urban/Rural deputy commissioners and revenue commissioners at Vikasa Soudha, Gowda ordered all the officials to take strict action to clear encroachments.
“The encroachment of government land is the biggest problem in Bengaluru. Government land is being grabbed by the land mafia. As a result, the government is losing a lot of revenue. Therefore, the officials should prepare a preliminary list of encroached land as soon as possible, and proceed to clear the encroachment every Saturday and Sunday,” he said. He recalled that during the last session, the government had given a word to evict the encroachment of government land. Besides clearing the encroachments, the officials, through regular weekly meetings, should also take steps to fence the said lands.
Meanwhile, land surveyors and village accountants should re-survey every plot in government records under the leadership of a tahsildar, Gowda directed, adding that the report should be brought to the notice of deputy commissioners.
It is in the wake of several cases of government documents being either stolen or tampered with by the land mafia that the resurvey is required, as the eligible beneficiaries who got land granted under Land Reform-Bagar Hukum committees are being inconvenienced. Apart from these lands, gomala, cemetery land, lakes and ponds are also encroached upon, he remarked.