30 acres of land recovered from grabbers

30 acres of land recovered from grabbers
Deccan Herald

In a swift operation on Tuesday morning, the Bangalore district administration and the rural police evicted 2,000 illegal hutments in Dasanpura on the Bangalore-Pune Highway. The government took possession of 30 acres of prime land (survey no. 101) amidst tight security provided by nearly 500 policemen.

As many as 67 persons were detained by the police for resisting eviction and were later sent to judicial custody. Meanwhile, the government is hoping to catch land-grabbers, who, they suspect are behind dramatic encroachment on government owned land.

The current value of the land in question is estimated to be Rs 30 crores to Rs 45 crores. “We suspect that the hutments cropped up overnight following instigation by some land grabbers. We are investigating the case to zero in on the culprits as the modus operandi is very familiar,” said Deputy Commissioner Bangalore Urban M A Sadiq.

The vast expanse of land was handed over to the ZP (Bangalore Urban) in 2003, to build houses under the Ashraya Scheme. However, no project had taken off, said the officials.

“Last week, the administration received information about illegal hutments from revenue officials and police. We hope to carry out extensive survey of government land to clear encroachment,” he added.