The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Encroachments on 160 acres worth Rs. 320 crore detected

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Wednesday, Sep 12, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Encroachments on 160 acres worth Rs. 320 crore detected

Special Correspondent

Legislature committee’s charge against Minister’s kin refuted

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Inspection: Members of the Joint Legislature Committee headed by A.T. Ramaswamy, formed to look into the encroachment of government land in and around Bangalore, inspecting an illegal layout in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Bangalore: The Joint Legislature Committee looking into the encroachment of government land in and around Bangalore on Tuesday detected encroachment of 160 acres of land in Sarjapur and Begur hoblis worth over Rs. 320 crore.

Committee Chairman A.T. Ramaswamy, accompanied by ‘Mukhyamantri’ Chandru, MLC, and G.V. Srirama Reddy, P.S. Raghu and A. Narayana Swamy, MLAs, after inspecting the encroachments, said officials in the departments of Revenue, Forests, Urban Development and Mines and Geology appeared to have connived with the encroachers.

Serious charge

Mr. Ramaswamy told presspersons that of the 160 acres, 16.35 acres had been encroached upon by Jagadish Naidu, whom he identified as the son of Minister for Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu, and Babu Naidu, brother-in-law of the Minister in Survey Nos. 31, 177 and 11 of Chikka Nagamangala village and Survey No. 11 of Dodda Nagamangala village of Sarjapur hobli in Anekal taluk.

Mr. Ramaswamy, who got the information from Revenue Department officials present, also said the encroachers had formed a layout. He said ten persons had encroached upon Survey No. 31, but the Department had evicted some of the encroachers, leaving the relatives of the Minister untouched.

He said he would be recommending disciplinary action against the officials who were responsible for the lapse. The officers could not wash their hands of the case by serving notice to the encroachers. They should have ensured that the encroachers were evicted, he said,

However, R. Jagadish Kumar, Officer on Special Duty to the Minister, in a rejoinder denied the charges, and said neither Mr. Jagadish Kumar nor Mr. Babu Naidu were relatives of the Minister.

The officer said the name of the Minister’s son was K.S. Jagadish and not Jagadish Naidu, and he had written to the Deputy Commissioner of the Bangalore Urban district six months ago denying the charges. He had also said that if there was any land in the area, purported to be in his name, it could be taken over. The officer said that the Minister had no brother-in-law named Babu Naidu.

Mr. ‘Mukhyamantri’ Chandru, a senior BJP leader, said there were no records to substantiate the charge against the son and brother-in-law of the Minister and he could react only after verifying the official records.

Other encroachments detected by the committee were an unauthorised layout on 20 acres and nine guntas in Survey No. 10, five acres and 31 guntas in Survey No. 54 of Ramasandra tank in Dodda Nelamangala village, two acres and one gunta of kharab land by Systems Processors India in Survey No. 199, ten guntas by Micro Labs and a three-floor building by Anand Surana in Survey No. 50 of Koodlu village in Sarjapur hobli.

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