Mysuru: Sending out a strong message to land sharks and encroachers in and around the city, the District Administration conducted a demolition drive this morning and recovered Government property worth crores of rupees. The drive was conducted in the presence of a large number of Policemen.

The demolition drive was conducted at 9 am at Survey Number 84, Kyathamaranahalli-Rajiv Nagar Nimra Masjid Road. While one side of the road comes under Kyathamaranahalli, the other side is under Rajiv Nagar. In all, Government land worth Rs.17 crore has been recovered in today’s operation.

At the place, there is a seven-acre 35-gunta Government land that has been encroached. The land belongs to Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). Of that, five acres have been encroached by a local Temple Trust many years ago, said Tahsildar T. Ramesh Babu, who led the demolition drive.

After encroaching upon the land, the Temple Trust formed sites and sold them to hundreds of people who have built houses and are staying there since many years. Surprisingly, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has been promptly collecting taxes for those houses that have been built illegally on a Government land, the Tahsildar said.

Today’s demolition drive was conducted in an area of one-acre 35-gunta land where eight shops, one garage and one compound wall have been demolished. The buildings were constructed by the encroachers and were in completion stage.

As Kyathamaranahalli is a sensitive area, the demolition drive was conducted amidst tight Police security.

Five Inspectors, eight Sub-Inspectors, 20 ASIs, 120 Head Constables and Constables, 25 Women Police, 1 KSRP team and 1 CAR team (30 members each), 10 Mounted Police and one CCTV camera and drone camera-equipped Mobile Command Centre were present. This apart, there were 50 Policemen and women dressed in plain clothes guarding the area.

Speaking to reporters, Tahsildar Ramesh Babu said that the administration had warned the encroachers two months back against any construction in the area. “These people did not heed to any warning and we had to demolish it,” he said.

On the issue of the temple trust encroaching five acres of land, he said that the encroachments were done years ago and the MCC was collecting taxes. “We will write to the MCC Commissioner asking him to direct tax collectors to verify if the land is encroached or not before collecting taxes. Collecting taxes gives legal cover to encroachments and violators can get away without being penalised,” he said.

The Tahsildar added that if the residents of the encroached land (sold by the temple trust) apply for regularisation of land under Akrama-Sakrama scheme, the government will regularise the same.

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