Encroachments on water bodies accounted for 49% of total objectionable occupation across the State, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) report tabled in the Assembly on Monday.
It noted that 23.9% of the government lands in Chennai district were encroached upon as of June last year.
The report stated that the encroachments had “serious consequences, with private individuals grabbing government land.”
Non-availability of reliable data on encroachments, inadequacies in enabling statutes and non-adherence to the established management systems of government lands dented the efforts to protect the lands from encroachments, it stated.
Lack of coordination
The CAG’s report pointed out that lack of coordination between the revenue and other line departments in the State, coupled with laxities on the part of field-level officials, posed difficulties fior authorities in evicting encroachers.
The six districts where over 10% of government lands had been encroached, besides Chennai, were: Salem (15.09%), Tiruvallur (14.16%), Krishnagiri (12.65%), Dindigul (11.85%), Villupuram (11.14%) and Dharmapuri (10.06%). A total of 2.05 lakh hectares, or 7% of government lands, was encroached as of June 2017.
Administrative inaction
Rampant encroachment of road margins in Chennai, with an average of 3.4 incidents of encroachment per kilometre of road length, went largely unchecked due to inaction on the part of the Greater Chennai Corporation, according to the report.
“Instead of alienating or acquiring suitable land, several government agencies took recourse to encroaching water bodies and grazing lands for constructing public buildings,” the report said.
