SP secures abandoned govt land

Dharwad: The district police department has finally managed to get its land at Mugad village that was encroached upon by locals.
Superintendent of police Vartika Katiyar, who took pains to identify the land that was abandoned by the department decades ago, has got the land surveyed and fenced.
Vartika told TOI on Wednesday that some people, who had encroached upon the land and occupied the building that housed police staff quarters, have been asked to vacate. “In view of the Covid situation we are not evicting them. They have agreed to vacate in due course,” Vartika said.
A police station existed in Mugad, about 10km away from Dharwad and residential quarters for the sub-inspector and other staff had been constructed on 1.1 acres. However, the police station was shifted to Alnavar in the 1970s, and for almost five decades the department had not bothered to maintain the buildings and open space.
Some local people had occupied the portion of the open land and the buildings thereafter. The SP said all the documents pertaining to the land have been handed over to the panchayat development officer and they have been uploaded in e-swathu, a dedicated website of government land records. A proposal will be given to the higher-ups to construct quarters for police personnel on this land, she added.