MLA, tahsildar and freedom fighters in land dispute

Prime land in K R Puram is now BBMPs garbage dumpyard

On the face of it, it might appear like a second freedom struggle for the freedom fighters and their descendants to get their piece of land. But does it hold water, is a question asked by many.

In 1966, the government had decided to give 36.29 acres of land to 13 freedom fighters but only eight could take it. Recently the Bangalore East Tahsildar Asha Parveen identified four out of the five freedom fighters and their relatives and gave away three acres of land to each one of them. This act of the Tahsildar drew the ire of KR Puram MLA Nandiesha Reddy.

The land in question is in survey number 11 of Kyalasanahalli in K R Puram area. A prime location, the land is next to the 80-feet road. A good chunk of land has been handed over to the BBMP when no one came forward to claim it, said DC Ayyappa. The place is now BBMP’s garbage dumpyard.

Reddy claims that the persons allotted the land are all fake. “Directions were given to the district administration to identify the families. In the last 44 years, the families could not be identified but quite surprisingly our new Tahsildar (Asha Parveen) takes only two months to identify the freedom fighters and gives away land,” Reddy pointed out. He vowed that he would not let anyone grab an inch of government land so long as he is the KR Puram MLA.

But Asha claimed that she had gone from door to door, identified the freedom fighters and given away land to the genuine persons. The Deputy Commissioner Ayyappa too is unhappy with the allotment of land to the ‘freedom fighters’ or their ‘direct discendents’.

 “If she had identified people, she should have written a letter to me. Subsequently, I would have formed a committee to investigate the truth and then, the administration would have readily given away the land,” said Ayyappa. For the time being the transfer of land has been kept on hold.

Over this issue, Asha Parveen was suspended but she got a stay from the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT). She was then transferred but again she got a stay from the KAT. The next thing done was a case registered against her by the police based on a complaint lodged by the new Tahsildar C L Shiva Kumar.