Its tough time for encroachers

CHENNAI: Huge tracts of government-owned land encroached by private parties have been retrieved after the AIADMK government assumed office. Retrieval of acres of land in Gudalur taluk of Nilgris District was possible only due to the alertness of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. On November 29, 2011, the CM handed over 11,204 acres of forest land which was in illegal possession of encroachers to the Forest Department.The Supreme Court, in its verdict dated September 9 last year  has declared that the state government’s decision to recover huge extent of fertile land in possession of private parties for many years was legally valid. However, the previous DMK regime had not taken any steps to retrieve the land.After AIADMK assumed office, land surveys were conducted in June and the government notified on August 11, 2011 that these lands have been recovered.Till April 1, 2011, the government has identified that as many as 1,84,148 acres of government land are under encroachment. Subsequently, serious efforts were taken and 18,760 acres of lands have been retrieved.