SRIKAKULAM: After Visakhapatnam, a land scam has come to light in Srikakulam district in which the land sharks have encroached around 15 acres of government land abutting two tanks in the LN Peta mandal headquarters. The scam surfaced after a group of ayacut farmers lodged a complaint during the ‘Mee Kosam’ programme recently. According to sources, the encroachment of the government lands which have a potential of becoming a commercial zone began around a decade ago. Land grabbers, in collusion with some corrupt officials, had occupied the land by forging the land documents and the stretches have changed many hands since then.
A group of farmers who are tilling the land in the ayacut of Dola Cheruvu and Barikivani Cheruvu, in their complaints, alleged that as many as 80 houses had been constructed on the government land and another foundation stone had been laid for another 300 houses. The locals told TNIE that having occupied the land, many private parties have started real estate ventures and many illegal occupants have sold and resold the encroached lands to many private parties. As the stretches are viable for commercial ventures, many traders have procured land there. “The land grabbers have forged documents with the help of some fraudulent officials before selling out the stretches at higher prices,” a group of farmers said on the condition of anonymity.
Shockingly, one encroacher has leased out a stretch to Andhra Bank which is running for many years now. Realising that the people who are living near the Dola and Barika tanks will be evacuated to make way for the Vamsadhara project and LN Peta is gradually becoming a commercial zone, many private parties have procured land near the national highway passing through Aalikam and Battili.
The question comes how did the officials allow such encroachments? The land sharks had their way with the support of local political leaders. The mandal revenue officials were also threatened when they raised their voice against the mushrooming buildings on the bank of the tanks.
“We started to curb the illegal occupation of the government land. But, many revenue officials including me were attacked at the instance of the land grabbers. We had put up boards warning against the tresspassing of government land, but the land sharks did not pay heed,” said LN Peta Tehsildar K Appa Rao. According to revenue officials, of the total 8.81 acres of government land in the Survey number 45 near Dola Cheruvu, almost 8 acres are under occupation. Of the 11.29 acres in the survey number 35 near Barikivani Cheruvu, 7 acres have encroached.
Demolition drive today
Srikakulam:Revenue divisional officer B Dayanidhi said the mandal tehsildar have been instructed to book criminal cases against the encroachers. “Criminal cases have been registered against 20 encroachers. We will pull down the illegal constructions on Tuesday. Around 50 police personnel have been deployed. Action will be taken against those who had attacked the mandal executive magistrate and tehsildar in the past.”