Revenue Minister R. Ashok has said, in a few years, the government will find it difficult to get land for public works. He was responding to a question by BJP member Y.A. Narayanaswamy in the Legislative Council on December 15.
The Minister said his department had been recovering government land that has been encroached upon. The land recovered would be utilised for building schools, hospitals, anganwadi centres and other public utilities.
“I am writing to legislators to make use of government land for such purposes. In a few years, it would be difficult to get land for public works. The government would have to purchase land paying a high price,” he said.
The Minister said Karnataka has 62.72 lakh acres of land. Of that 14.27 lakh acres have been encroached upon. The land in dispute in various courts adds up to about 9,700 acres. The extent of land for which applications have been filed under Akrama-Sakrama is over 9.97 lakh. The government has to clear encroachments on 4.06 lakh acres. The government has been clearing encroachment in a phased manner.
“Officials in the Revenue Department have been instructed to devote Saturdays to clear encroachments,” he said.
Mr. Narayanaswamy said land worth over thousands of crores of rupees had been encroached upon in Bengaluru alone. “The government is finding it difficult to spend money for schools. But here, government properties have been encroached. The government should recover them,” he said.
