Chief Minister Siddaramaiah: Get back grabbed land

Bengaluru: Coming down heavily on bureaucrats for not responding to people's problems, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has warned that there were ample scope in the law to initiate action against officials, who indulged in anti-people activities.

Chairing a review meeting of 12 departments here on Monday, Mr Siddaramaiah  listed his priorities in administration, especially on recovering encroached government land. The Chief Minister asked the DCs to make the list of government lands public, so that even the public will help them in identifying encroached land. “There is no need to wait for anyone's order for recovering encroached land. However powerful the person who encroached the land is, the officials should recover it immediately,'' he said.

Expressing his displeasure over encroachment of lakes, Mr Siddaramaiah lamented that the officials first allow encroachment of lakes and then try to recover the land. In such cases, those  who encroach on the land approach the courts, embarrassing the government. The priority should be on safeguarding the water bodies from being encroached by the land mafia, he said.

Expressing his displeasure over the delay in responding to people's problems, Mr Siddaramaiah told the officials that there was no need to do research for solving them. “All you need is to apply your mind and help them. The work should be time bound, so that  people get early relief.  If officials indulge in anti-people activities, the government will not be a mute spectator,'' he warned.

The district administration should ensure speedy disposal of Dalit atrocity cases and make sure the inquiry, evidence collection and filing of charge sheets is done in time, the CM said.