70 acres of railway land under encroachment

Visakhapatnam: Nearly 70 acres of railway land under the city-based Waltair railway division is said to be currently under encroachment, information obtained by Deccan Chronicle shows. The market value of the land is estimated to be more than Rs 150 crore, according to sources.

Of this, up to 40 acres of encroached land is in the vicinity of Visakhapatnam railway station and other parts of the city, railway officials told this newspaper.

The illegal occupants have built religious structures in the occupied land and developed permanent establishments like flower shops and tea kiosks around them.

In fact, a plot of encroached railway land at Gajuwaka has been transferred to the state’s endowments department without the knowledge of the railways. Besides, this newspaper found that 63 railway personnel had sublet their allotted residential houses in the railway quarters. Of them, about 10 railway personnel in the city leased their allotted houses to others for rents ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month.

“A railway employee may get eight to 12 per cent of the basic as house rent allowance, which will be around `5,000 to `6000 per month. If the employee sublets the house, the rental amount would easily be `10,000 to `15,000 per month,” a railways source told DC.

Though the practice is going on for years, the administration has not been able to take action due to political pressure or intervention of employee, sources said. Sometimes, the administration just did not notice the issue.
When contacted, Waltair divisional railway manager Anup Kumar Satpathy said, “We are on the job of taking appropriate action against the illegal activities. It includes serving notices and taking up criminal proceedings as per the law.”

The railways has a right to take any action under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 (PPE Act, 1971).