By S.T. Ravikumar

Mysore/Mysuru: With the cost of landed properties skyrocketing in Mysuru, which is the second fastest growing city in the state after Bengaluru, Government land encroachments and other land grabbing too is on a rise in the city, as can be found out by the numerous complaints that MUDA (Mysuru Urban Development Authority) has been receiving these days.

Waking up to such complaints, the MUDA has embarked on a rigorous drive to reclaim encroached or grabbed properties, that include parcels of land, residential and commercial sites, houses etc, in different areas and localities spread across the city and has succeeded in reclaiming properties totally worth hundreds of crores of rupees, thanks to the efforts of its Chairman H.V. Rajeev and the determination of Commissioner Dr. D.B. Natesh.

Since June. 30, 2020 till date, MUDA has reclaimed 54 acres and 25 guntas of land and 134 residential sites, totally worth Rs. 534 crore, that were either encroached upon or grabbed by the land mafia through fake documents. Some of the sites that were reclaimed included 40 sites measuring 20’x 30’, 17 sites measuring  30’x40’, 14 sites measuring 50’x80’ and 8 other sites.

Most of the reclaimed sites are located in Devanur second  stage, Hinkal, Bannimantap B layout, Vidyaranyapuram, Devanur First stage, Dattagalli, Vijayanagar Fourth stage, Belavatha, Gokulam, Kuvempunagar, T.K. Layout, Ramakrishnanagar J Block and Basavanahalli, that have a total value exceeding Rs. 100 crore.

As far as reclamation of parcels of land is concerned, the MUDA has reclaimed a total of 54.25 acres of land , cumulatively  worth Rs. 343 crore. The reclaimed lands include 13 acres in seven different survey numbers of Hanchya village, 6.14 acres in Basavanahalli Survey No. 123/1, 27 guntas in Devanur, 27 guntas coming under 6 different survey numbers in Hebbal, 15.19 acres in seven different survey numbers of Lalitadripura, 3.27 acres in Sathagalli, 8.08 acres in Belavatha, 2 acres in Lalitadripura, 8.33 acres in Hinkal and 27 guntas in Devanur.

This apart, MUDA has also launched a drive to evacuate unauthorised occupants of houses belonging to it. The then CITB and the current MUDA had built hundreds of HIG, MIG and LIG Houses under HUDCO Housing project decades ago. But some of them were either unallotted or remained vacant over the years due to various reasons. Taking advantage of such houses remaining unoccupied for long, some persons illegally occupied the houses and began to live. Now, alerted on unauthorised  occupation of houses, the MUDA recently launched a fresh drive for reclamation of such houses, which belonged to it as per the records available with it.

MUDA Commissioner Dr. D.B. Natesh said that the drive will continue until MUDA gets back all its encroached or grabbed properties.

Pointing out that some of the illegally occupied houses have been evacuated, he said that MUDA has prepared a list of 150 more such houses and measures have been taken to evict the occupants and take back the houses.

Maintaining that there are plans to auction all the reclaimed sites, parcels of land and houses, he said that MUDA will fetch a good sum in bulk through auction. Pointing out that the money thus earned will be utilized for MUDA’s developmental projects, Dr. Natesh said that MUDA is clearing pending dues of land owners who had parted with their lands for formation of layouts, along with the accrued interest as per norms.

MUDA Chairman H.V. Rajeev said that after his appointment as Chairman, he has evolved plans to take the Government body to much greater heights. Detailing his plans for the development of Mysuru and provision of facilities to its residents, he said that at the same time it is equally important for him to safeguard and secure all properties that belong to MUDA.

Noting that the drive has been launched to reclaim encroached properties, he said that there is still some encroached landed properties to be recovered and measures are in place for achieving this.