Tamil Nadu   

Encroachments removed from government land

— Photo: A.Muralitharan

Encroachments being removed by Public Works Department personnel on Friday.

TAMBARAM: A few huts that had come up in about one acre of government land abutting a sprawling lake near Tambaram were removed on Friday morning.

A case has been registered at the Peerkankaranai police station by government officials seeking action against those who had grabbed the land and sold them to gullible people, mostly from low-income groups.

The Mudichur Periya Eri is spread over 81 hectares (202 acres).

There are two segments of encroachments in the lake – on nearly 20 acres of the water-spread area and the recent encroachments on about one acre on a channel draining surplus water out of the lake from its outlet point.

On this one acre, about 50 housing plots were created, measuring 2 cents (872 square feet) to half ground (1,200 square feet).

A few huts were constructed and fenced. On Friday morning, PWD officials and workers reached the spot and removed the huts and fences. However, the families of those who purchased the plots and constructed the huts had not moved into them.

Officials of the PWD said that a survey, in association with officials of the Revenue Department, on the encroachments on the waterspread area would be conducted soon.

The encroachments are likely to be removed after two weeks. Officials said that land grabbers had created the housing plots and sold them for sums ranging between Rs.1 lakh and Rs.2 lakh.

They appealed to the public not to fall into the trap of land sharks and buy plots around waterbodies. None, including the Kancheepuram Collector, local bodies, Revenue Department or any other government agency, had any right to allot ‘patta' to plots that come near lakes and this provision was clearly specified in the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks and Prevention of Encroachments Act, 2007.

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