Karnataka government recovers 48 acres of land in Bengaluru Urban

The district administration carried out a major eviction operation in five taluks of Bengaluru Urban on Saturday to take back possession of government land from encroachers.

The simultaneous crackdown led by Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath resulted in the recovery of 48.20 acres of land worth Rs 66.23 crore.

While most of the recovered land was pasture land (gomala land), in some villages water bodies and lakes were also encroached, according to officials. After the day-long eviction drive, the recovered land was assessed, surveyed and fenced by government officials.

According to J Manjunath, the highest encroachment was noticed in the villages of Dasanapura hobli in Bengaluru North, where 18.70 acres of government land worth Rs 18.70 crore was recovered. This was followed by Jala and Hesaraghatta hobli of Yelahanka taluk, where 11.51 acres of government land worth Rs 13.5 crore was recovered.

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A senior revenue officer told DH that this is for the first time such a simultaneous crackdown was planned in recent times.

“All these years we used to target one specific taluk or hobli and go after encroachers. But this time, we meticulously planned, listed out the details of encroached properties and teams led by Tahsildars and local police officials were assigned to carry out the eviction drive,” the officer explained.

Similarly, the eviction drive in Bidarahalli hobli of Bengaluru East, Kengeri hobli of South taluk, Attibele, Kasaba, Jigani and Sarjapur hobli of Anekal taluk also resulted in the recovery of major chunk of land.