BELAGAVI: The state government will use technology to identify encroachment of government lands, and has come up with a mobile app, Beat, which uses GPS and helps identify ownership of lands.
Replying to a query in the Council on Wednesday, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said that of the total 63,32,486 acres of government land, 14,72,493 acres have been encroached. Of the encroached land, 10,82,752 acres are being considered under the Akrama-Sakrama scheme.
In the remaining 3,89,741 acres, encroachments have been cleared in 2,73,778 acres, while the process is on to evict squatters from 1,15,963 acres.
From next month, village accountants will use the app for land certification. If any encroachment is found, an online report is sent to the tahsildar. The mobile app has been developed to make the process accurate, he added.
To a query by BJP member YA Narayanswamy, Byre Gowda said action has been taken against tahsildars and assistant commissioners. Apart from departmental inquiries, criminal cases have been filed against them.
To another query by JDS member BM Farooq on letting private use of landlocked public land in rural areas by amending the relevant law, Byregowda said that the majority of landlocked parcels in rural areas are B-Kharab land. They are government-owned land that cannot be converted by private players and reserved for public purposes.
The previous government had made a similar provision to release such lands within BBMP limits, but he was personally opposed to it. The government is not in favour of allowing private use of land-locked B-Kharab land, he added.