Bengaluru: Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rizwan Arshad, who is in charge of Udupi district, has directed officials to remove the obstacles to regularising houses built on government land and to speed up land grants in the district. He held a long meeting with Forest Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Udupi MLAs and officials at Vidhana Soudha to find solutions to forest and revenue problems faced by residents.
Issues discussed
- Regularisation of houses built on government land.
- Delays in distributing bagar hukum lands.
- Extension of lease periods of cashew plantations.
- Obstacles in the deemed forest survey.
94C applications and bagar hukum lands
MLA Sunil Kumar said applications filed under Form 94C to regularise houses on government land are being rejected by officials citing various reasons. He said those who have built on such land are poor, and that once an application is rejected, people cannot apply again. He also said surveys of bagar hukum lands disposed of by MLA-led committees are delayed.
Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Rajendra Kataria said problems in regularising houses under Form 94C will be resolved on priority. On Arshad’s instruction, he said, a technical committee of the Revenue Department will soon be sent to Udupi to study issues related to land distribution and surveys. A committee headed by the Regional Commissioner has been formed for bagar hukum grants, and genuine applications will be considered, he said.
Cashew plantation leases
MLA Kiran Kumar Kodgi urged that leases of land given to cashew plantations, which have expired, be renewed. Kataria replied that the government has decided to stop leasing land to cashew plantations at low rates, which is also the court’s view, and that those who want land on lease for cashew plantations can take it at commercial rates.
Varahi project and deemed forest survey
The meeting decided to take the steps needed quickly to provide an additional 17 acres for the Varahi project. Ramalinga Reddy told officials to complete the deemed forest survey across the state quickly and to dispose of pending land grant applications on priority.
MLAs Yashpal Suvarna, Gururaj Gantihole and Gurme Suresh, Legislative Council member Manjunath Bhandary, the Udupi Deputy Commissioner, the Zilla Panchayat CEO and other officials attended.
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