Demolition drive: 36 acres worth 175cr recovered

BENGALURU: The Bengaluru district adminstration on Saturday reclaimed 36 acres of government land worth Rs 175 crore during an anti-encroachment drive at five places. There was some tension as a few unscrupulous elements gheraoed deputy commissioner BM Vijayshankar and Bengaluru North tahsildar K L Nagaraj in Yelahanka.

The incident took place around 3pm when the district administration was clearing the temporary commercial establishments built on 1.6 acres worth Rs 50 crore in Puttenahalli at Yelahanka.

Many encroachers have built temporary sheds and were running commercial establishments. A group of people claiming to be part of a pro-Kannada organisation surrounded Vijayshankar, Nagaraj and police personnel. About 25 men gheraoed the officials and targeted earthmovers.

Police took control of the situation. However, no complaint was filed in this regard. Sources said there were few police personnel providing security and officials had left their wireless phone in their vehicle which led to a delay in communicating messages.

While many illegal structures were demolished, the administration exempted houses built illegally.

Vijayshankar said, "Some people demanded we stop the demolition but we had to go ahead. They said they have documents and we told them to meet us with them. We haven't demolished any house and have sought documents to regularise them."

Besides government land, officials cleared 16.1 acres of encroached lake land worth Rs 25 crore. In Anekal taluk, about 9 acres of lake land were encroached.