Encroached land to be recovered

BANGALORE: The government will not succumb to pressure in taking back lands in and around Bangalore from encroachers for which an action plan is in the anvil,” Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda told the Council here on Thursday. “Let there be no doubt (about the government taking back the lands)... We will spare nobody no matter who they are,” the chief minister  said in reply to a question of Basavaraj Horatti of the JD (S).  According to the chief minister, more than 2,580 acres of land valued at Rs 5,000 crore is estimated to have been encroached. There are about 1,127 illegal beneficiaries of land in different dimension of which 258 have registered the land in their names. Most of the land allotment cases are on account of creating fake documents, the CM said.“The action plan which is being prepared by the high-level committee will be placed before the cabinet in about 15 days after which the process of taking back the land will commence in about a month from the date of state Cabinet’s decision,” the chief minister sought to explain. When Horatti demanded that the names of the encroachers be made public, Sadananda Gowda refused, stating that it may hamper the ongoing investigation in the case.