Government land spread over 34 acres which was in possession of leaseholders in Gadag was recovered through a joint mega operation on Sunday.
The demolition drive and recovery of the government land was in response to a District Court order in 2005, and a subsequent order by the Department of Urban Development.
The drive was carried out jointly by the Gadag district administration, the district Urban Development Cell, the Gadag-Betageri City Municipal Council, and the police. The clearance went on for several hours.
Subsequently, addressing presspersons Deputy Commissioner of Gadag M.G. Hiremath said that they were able to recover property worth ₹600 crore.
“In 2005, the District Court had ordered for recovery of the land, and had given a deadline of four weeks. However there were 54 leaseholders of the property. Subsequently, the Department of Urban Development had issued an order asking the authorities to strictly implement the order and not to lose the municipal council land,” Mr. Hiremath said.
Mr. Hiremath said that considering that there were several people affected by the drive, several precautionary measures were taken in coordination with officials of different departments.
He said during the operation and prior to it, the leaseholders having shops, commercial establishments and houses were counseled and pacified, so as to ensure that there was no problem in carrying out the clearance drive.
They were also provided vehicles to shift their belongings and the services of civic workers were pressed into service to help them, he said.
Mr. Hiremath clarified that all adequate steps would be taken to ensure that the recovered land was protected. Mr. Hiremath said that the officials had been instructed to provide houses to the displaced on humanitarian grounds under various government schemes.
The displaced people had also been asked to apply under the government housing schemes, he said.
Superintendent of Police Shrinath Joshi said that the entire mega operation was carried out without any untoward incident and without any legal problems.
