Bangalore's Rs 22,377cr worth
By TNN |
BANGALORE: Land grabbing is big business. And as much as 13,614.37 acres of valuable government property worth at least Rs 27,377.75 crore in Bangalore city and Bangalore urban district has been encroached, according to the interim report of a joint house panel of Karnataka legislature.
"Bangalore has become a haven for land mafias, real estate sharks and land encroachers,������ is the stark conclusion of the joint house panel headed by ruling JD(S) member A T Ramaswamy, which inquired into different government departments and statutory bodies like Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, Bangalore Development Authority, city and town municipal councils, Karnataka Housing Board and Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board.
In a damning indictment, the panel observed that the government departments and statutory bodies have ``completely failed in their duty to protect government and public land,������ and tersely remarked: ``They have become not only mute spectators but their employees have become active participants, abettors and even promoters of these offences in many cases.������
The panel said about 3 lakh bogus title deeds had been issued by the revenue department in Bangalore district alone, according to depositions by senior officials, thanks to the ``hand-in-glove operation of the staff.������
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The cooperation department has confessed that encroachment of land earmarked for civic amenities, public parks, playgrounds and roads could not be checked due to pressure from the lobbies of vested interests and dire threats from influential people, it said.The seriousness of the land grabbing menace was such that unscrupulous elements had managed to fabricate documents and illegally claim ownership of government lands in several cases. As much as 9,294 acre of gomal and waste land had been encroached upon as on November 30 last year and valuable property belonging to the civic body had been grabbed, which had been duly regularised illegally or simply granted flouting the restrictions against grant of any government land within a radius of 18 kms from the city limits.
Even temple lands worth crore of rupees had been sold on the basis of false documents, the panel said observing: ���If all the properties belonging to the 68 temples loacated in Bangalore city alone is given on rent or lease at prevailing market rates in the respective areas, the income generated can take care of renovation and development of all temples in the entire state.������
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The Ramaswamy panel has recommended setting up a special court to exclusively deal with encroachments on the model of the Andhra Pradesh Land Grabbing Prohibition Act of 1982 to check infructuous lititgation and effective implmentation of all existing laws to check land grabbing besides initiating legal action against government and public servants for creating false documents or destruction of records to facilitate land grabbing.Download
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