The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Land-grabbing gangs on the loose!

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 24, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Land-grabbing gangs on the loose!

After buying plots, many owners never visit the place for years, writes Marri Ramu

Whenever a particular type of crime is on the rise, the police come out with an advisory of precautions.

For example, they caution people not to keep huge quantities of gold or cash in houses during summer since burglaries go up during this period.

Short-term measures applied to check other offences are of little help in land-grabbing cases since organised criminal gangs are on the job all through the year.

Ironically, open lands are turning out to be the easiest things to be grabbed by criminals. There are no guards at any of the ventures to keep tab on encroachers. No compound walls are erected. Most of them are not even fenced.

After buying plots, many owners never visit the place for years. All these factors are only emboldening the gangs to occupy the lands.

They erect huts on the open plots, keep hired labourers on them, create fake land records and send legal notices to the landowners saying the plot is in litigation. They find new buyers for the occupied plots.

If a person bought a plot for Rs. 1 lakh at Madhapur 10 years ago, it would fetch Rs. 20 lakhs now. The land-grabber offers Rs. 5 lakhs to the plot owner saying even that sum means four times the latter's investment.

What is worst, in some cases the land-grabbers do not even offer a single rupee to plot owners and threaten them with dire consequences if they raise their voice. What can plot owners do?

Police officials say buyers should make the real estate businessmen selling the land equally liable for protecting the plots.

All plot owners of a venture should form an association and engage services of an advocate in advance for proper guidance to deal with legal hurdles.

Fencing the plot is a must, if compound wall cannot be erected.

Copies of all link documents of the land tracing the original owner should be collected. Status of the plot should be frequently verified physically.

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Andhra Pradesh