The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Land-grab menace unabated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 30, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Land-grab menace unabated

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI. Oct 29. There appears to be no let-up in the land-grabbing spree in Tirupati, as the value of the land in and around the city has shot up with a boom in real estate activities.

The very fact that the district Collector had to put in place, less than a month ago, a special Task Force to keep an eye on Government lands and tank-beds, clearly reflects the alarming dimensions the problem has assumed.

The latest in the series of the land grabbing was the blatant attempt by some unidentified persons to usurp 23 acres of the precious tank-bed land belonging to Ramakkacheruvu coming under the purview of the Tiruchanur panchayat.

Attempt foiled

The attempt was however foiled, thanks to the alert Revenue Inspector who, with the help of a team of 15 policemen, rounded-off the vehicles -- five tractors, four tippers and two JCB units -- ploughing the land and took into custody all the drivers and seized the vehicles.

Sources said that neither the identity of the real culprits nor their whereabouts were known because barring the drivers, none else was at the site when the police and the revenue official zeroed in on them. The action was taken following a tip-off to the RI by locals about unidentified vehicles digging up the tank-bed in late nights.

The arrested persons, however, claimed that they were not trying to grab the land but were only taking out the mud and earth from the tank bed for a temple under construction in a nearby village. Though the police registered only a `tresspass' case, they were however investigating it from the land grab angle.

Tiruchanur police, who have registered a case, are still looking for the elusive land-grabbers said to be from Anantapur district.

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