The state government is yet to recover 1.36 lakh acres of encroached government lands, Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka told the Legislative Council on Wednesday.
The minister also warned that the availability of land will be less in the coming days.
The extent of government land in the state is 62.72 lakh acres of which 14.27 lakh acres are encroached, according to data that Ashoka tabled.
Cases related to 6,732 acres are before the court, applications under the Akrama-Sakrama scheme are submitted for 9.97 lakh acres while 14,048 acres are used for public purposes.
"Among 4.06 lakh acres of land needed to be cleared from encroachments, 2.70 lakh acres have been recovered by November-end," he said. The remaining 1.36 lakh acres will be recovered in a phased manner, he added.
Ashoka was responding to a question by BJP MLC YA Narayanaswamy.
In Bengaluru Urban, Ashoka said that the extent of gomala and government land encroached is 38,888 acres. This number is 36,229 acres in Bengaluru Rural district. Of them, 16,420 acres in Bengaluru Urban and 11,779 acres in Bengaluru Rural have been recovered by the government.
Deputy commissioners of Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural have been instructed to conduct encroachment clearance activities every Saturday, and this work is going on, Ashoka said.
"Encroached government land will be recovered without heeding to any pressure. Government land protection committees are also constituted in districts," Ashoka said.
Narayanaswamy observed that land prices in several parts of Bengaluru sharply rose after the international airport came up at Devanahalli.
"When the government lacks sufficient funds for development works, land grabbers are enjoying by encroaching government land. The government will be left with no land for essential works, if encroachments continue," he said.
Ashoka said he will write to all legislators asking them to prioritise schools and hospitals while allotting government land.
"It is better to allot government land after ensuring land for graveyard, school and hospital, as availability of land will be very less in the coming days," he said.
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