Condemning the government’s “apathy” in acting against land-grabbing cases in Bengaluru, former Minister H.K. Patil on Monday wrote to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa demanding the implementation of the report of Joint Legislature Committee on Encroachments in Bangalore Urban District (2007) headed by A.T. Ramaswamy.
Listing out the encroached properties identified in the report, Mr. Patil said the government should, at the earliest, identify officials who have not registered cases against the encroachers in the special court set up for the purpose. The Chief Secretary should be asked to submit a comprehensive report on this to the Legislature, Mr. Patil said in the letter.
A whopping 13,02,241 acres of government land in the State has been encroached upon. Bengaluru Urban district, that comprises Bengaluru city, has encroachments on 9,294 acres, while the districts surrounding the city, such as Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagaram and Chickballapur have substantial extent of encroachments, the letter said.
Demanding that cases should be filed against the encroachers in Bengaluru districts in the next two months, the former Minister said stringent criminal action should be taken against cases that are found guilty by the court. Special courts should also be set up in districts so that there can be a speedy disposal of cases. Now, all cases are referred to the special court in Bengaluru, the letter added.
