Too many ‘plotholes’ in govt action

Too many ‘plotholes’ in govt action
Land grabbing is rampant in Bangalore; 3,000 acres of government land have ‘vanished’.Yet the government hasn’t stirred itself to check this dangerous trend.

S Kushala asks M A Sadiq, deputy commissioner, Bangalore Urban, how he plans to tackle encroachers.
The Times of India


Land grabbing is the order of the day in Bangalore. Till recently, the authorities had the least idea about the extent of encroachment How much of g over nment land has been grabbed?
Encroachment of government land in the city is of the order of 3,000 acres coming under the jurisdiction of BMP, BDA and the CMCs. They are mostly in the form of houses and sheds. And rural pockets are yet to be surveyed! For the first time, the department has taken up this task of identifying its lands.

A huge chunk of gomala land near Bellandur has been completely taken over by the land mafia, thanks to politicians and realtors. More than 300 houses have come up here without any approvals. What action have you initiated in this regard?
My officers have inspected the area and are verifying the records. Eviction operations will be carried out immediately.

What is the mechanism to identify encroachment?
It is a Herculean task. We have definite survey numbers in our records identifying government lands. We conduct physical inspection to check the status of the land. Without land identification, we cannot take up eviction operations.

What is the next step after identifying government land? How do you plan to protect the property?
Once the lands are surveyed, we will take up eviction proceedings as per the rules. Eviction has happened in about 200 acres and 40 acres have been put up for public auction and Rs 80 crore has been mopped up. Whenever encroachment is cleared, either they will be auctioned, leased out to charitable institutions or allotted to government bodies. So far, we have cleared encroachment of 35 tanks and have handed them over to the agencies concerned. Since these are vast tracts of land, fencing is very difficult.

How will you tackle land grabbers?
I have suggested to the government that encroachment be made a cognizable offence where criminal cases can be filed against the violators. As of now, there is no provisional amendment to the Land Revenue Act. We are trying to bring an amendment to it and the recommendation has been moved to the government. When it is implemented, it will drastically bring down the incidence of offences.

VERDICT GUILTY

S C Karigowda, former director of town planning department; chairman of Institute of Town Planners, Karnataka regional chapter, Bangalore.

The revenue department is the custodian of all government lands which has to maintain records for all its properties.
But proper auditing of the same is not effectively done. The authorities are deliberately mum on encroachment of government lands.
The proposal for amending these laws to make it more stringent is a different issue. But how far the existing law has been used to take action against the land grabbers is a question to be answered. It gives an impression that the authorities and land grabbers are working hand in hand.
Hence, I feel the authorities have failed in their duties and in my opinion, the revenue department is guilty.

In the DOCK
Name: M A Sadiq.
Date of Birth: September 1953.
Qualification: IAS 1992 batch.
Designation: Deputy commissioner, Bangalore Urban.
Official address: Deputy commissioner’s office, court complex, next to Cauvery Bhavan, KG Road, Bangalore.

A low-profile officer and son-in-law of Abdul Nazeersab, Sadiq was posted as DC urban when the land scam in and around Bangalore was strongly brewing. In co-ordination with the revenue department, Sadiq took up the exercise of identifying encroached lands. He has placed proposals to the government about clearing the mess surrounding the unauthorised properties.

Sadiq has earlier served as deputy commissioner Chitradurga, at BMP and was heading the slum clearance board.