Daijiworld media Network- Bengaluru (RJP)

Major enroacher- Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board

Bengaluru, May 3: As many as 721 acres with an estimated market value of Rs. 7,551 crore was recovered in Bengaluru on Saturday as hundreds of concrete structures, including commercial complexes and residential buildings, were razed to the ground. This is the largest recovery of government land in Bengaluru.

It is learnt that most of the land was encroached upon by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board.

The biggest recovery was in Kadugodi where the district administration recovered 711 acres of land converted into a plantation by the KIADB, while nearly three acres of land was recovered in Banaswadi lake area.

Deputy commissioner (Bengaluru Urban) V Shankar said, "711 acres of forest land had been encroached upon by the KIADB, which did not have proper documents. Residential buildings had come up on five acres. The value of the recovered property is Rs 7,100 crore."

The administration also recovered 7.18 acres of land, worth about Rs. 300 crore, at Munnenakolalu village. The land had been encroached upon by an NGO, which had constructed a school and a hostel for girls for commercial purpose. Shankar said that while the government had leased out 9.18 acres of land to Navajeevan Nilaya, a city-based NGO for running a rehabilitation centre for leprosy patients for 30 years, the NGO had violated the lease conditions.

“Revenue officials had submitted a report on the matter and the land was recovered after cancelling the lease agreement. The two acres of land where the rehabilitation centre is located has been given to Srikrishna Sevasharama trust to run the centre,” Shankar revealed.

In Banaswadi, 2.39 acres of land, which was encroached upon by private parties who had constructed commercial complexes, residential houses and a petrol station, was recovered after demolishing the structures. A temple that had come up on the encroached area has been handed over to the Muzrai Department.

The district administration has recommended action against officials who helped land encroachers.

“Officials have been directed to track down those who created fake documents for government land and sold the parcels to gullible people. The officials are analyzing the documents at the sub-registrar’s offices to track down touts. We are also planning to confiscate their property and compensate those who have been cheated,” Shankar said.

BDA layout found among illegal encroachment

The district authorities found themselves in a fix when they went to raze private buildings on the Banasavadi lake land.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had also built a layout on the tank bed, throwing norms to the wind like private individuals. The authorities recovered a huge tract of land worth hundreds of crore of rupees, including two petrol pumps on the lake bed.

Of the total 42.38 acres of lake land, 14.27 acres had been encroached upon by the BDA, while the remaining 2.39 acres had been encroached upon by private persons.

The lake, adjacent to the 80 Feet Road at Subbaianna Palya, was first reportedly encroached upon by private persons and then the BDA acquired it to form the HRBR Layout and allocated 222 sites. About 150 houses have already come up there.

While those properties that were built without any approval were razed, the authorities treating them as illegal, the BDA layout right in the middle of the lake was spared.

Asked why the BDA layout was left untouched, Deputy Commissioner V Shankar said the decision regarding the illegal layout should be taken by the chief minister, and that a notice has been already served to the residents.

But the request by private individuals to spare them on humanitarian grounds fell on deaf ears.