CM cracks the whip on land encroachment

Bangalore: Chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday directed officials to demolish illegal structures on government land, regardless of the encroacher. Referring to former legislator AT Ramaswamy committee report about encroachments in Bangalore Urban district and former additional chief secretary V Balasubramanian's report on encroachments in the state, the CM told officials: "Don't bother about the might of the encroacher. It doesn't matter who he is. Even if he is an influential politician, take stern and quick action. Corruption does not mean taking money, even delayed action amounts to corruption.'' He met bureaucrats -- deputy commissioners, superintendents of police, secretaries, principal secretaries, additional chief secretary and chief secretary -- and reviewed the functioning of various departments. The marathon meeting began at 10am and concluded at 8.45pm. "I have directed officials to use all powers in the statute to prevent encroachments and recover encroached government properties in the state,'' he told reporters after the meeting. Ramaswamy has stated that over 34,111 acres had been encroached in Bangalore Urban district, while Balasubramanian said over 13.54 lakh acres had been encroached in the state. To deal with large-scale encroachment in Bangalore Urban district, the government is appointing two special commissioners. It plans to establish special courts once the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill gets the President's assent. The CM didn't mince words in criticizing the babus for not preventing encroachments. "You ignore it till the land is encroached. Afterwards, it becomes difficult to clear it. Do you expect me to tell you that prevention is better than cure?'' the CM said. He has directed revenue officials to display the details of the government properties at Nada Kacheri, tahsildar's office and DC's office. "It helps people know about the government properties and report encroachments if it happens,'' he said. The CM has directed the DCs and SPs to start slapping cases and demolish illegal structures. Freedom fighter HS Doreswamy is leading a dharna in Bangalore seeking action against the encroachers. "I request Doreswamy to withdraw the protest,'' Siddaramaiah said. 'Enemy of the people' Siddaramaiah remarked: "There is no research needed to attend to people's problems. People come to meet me during the janata darshan because the district administration has failed to attend to their problems. Don't be anti-poor. If the roads don't withstand one spell of rain, aren't you the enemy of the people?'' The CM took principal secretary of health department N Sivasailam to task over the poor quality of services in hospitals in the state. "It is the poor who go to government hospitals. But the service is pathetic. How many hospitals have you inspected? Do you know the condition at Kidwai hospital? Visit the hospital and give me a report,'' he said. -TOI