JOIN USAddressing a press conference in Bangalore on Friday, Minor Irrigation Minister Govind Karjol said the survey revealed that 2,269 hectares of tank bed had been encroached.
The department had managed to recover 1,700 hectares and the process of recovering remaining land was in full swing, he added. However, no action has been initiated against encroachers, as most of them were farmers and they had utilised the land only for agricultural purposes, Karjol said.
The department has completed survey of 1,591 of the total 3,384 tanks across the State. Of these 983 tanks had been taken up for restoration under the Jalasamvardhane scheme. The survey process had been slow due to shortage of surveyors, he added.
Karjol said a departmental inquiry against eight NGOs had been initiated for claiming excess amount for desilting of tanks under the Jalasamvardhane scheme. The excess amount claimed in Kolar district was around Rs one crore. The revenue department would be requested to recover the amount from the NGOs following the completion of the inquiry process.