We plan to clear encroachments, says Govt
Over eleven lakh acres of govt land in state encroached by vested interests.
Bangalore: The state government on Friday informed the high court that it has issued a circular towards preparing a realistic time-bound action plan for removal of encroachments on government lands.
The decision has been taken during the meeting of the committee formed by the high court, headed by Bangalore Urban DC Prakash over clearing and recovering encroachments of 11 lakh acres of public land across the state, most of them in Bangalore and worth Rs 1.95 lakh crore, by private persons and others.
“It was decided that the model action plan submitted by the Bangalore urban DC could be adopted in other districts also. Hence it is necessary that the DCs of other districts are also required to prepare a similar action plan pertaining to their respective districts towards clearing encroachments,” the circular stated.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice D.H. Waghela, further directed the state to submit the status of the action plan while hearing the PIL filed by Samaj Parivartana Samudaya and three others seeking action and as well as recovery of alleged encroachment of 11 lakh acres of public lands across the state.
According to the petition, the reports show that nearly eleven lakh acres of government lands have been allowed to be encroached by private persons and vested interests across the state.
“Of the 11 lakh acres, 1,65,796 acres is forest land and out of this 1,04,497 acres is in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats region in three districts.”