Software to deal with encroachments soon
In the wake of land mafia and other influential people grabbing vast stretches of government land in prime locations in the city, the state government has finally woken up to assess the exact volume of land encroached and now want to take steps to free the properties.
In a recent meeting of city management group (CMG) which was attended by officers of different government agencies and police, development commissioner Injeti Srinivas asked National Informatics Centre (NIC) to develop software enabled with the GPS-tagged photography system to locate encroachments. Currently, the state government has no data of encroachments on land, belonging to general administration department, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Odisha State Housing Board. The state government’s move to put up signboards on its properties, warning action against trespassers, has not deterred the land sharks.
The minutes of the meeting said, “A strong reliable database on encroachments is lacking.” After the meeting, Vishal Dev, the vice-chairman of BDA said that the government has engaged NIC to create the software for ‘online registration of encroachment’. He said, “We are maintaining files dealing with encroachment manually. Soon, such records will be maintained online for transparency and easy disposal.”
The minutes of the meeting noted said, “In many plotted schemes, narrow strips of land have been left out while developing housing colonies. These areas are more vulnerable to encroachment. Since the leftover land cannot be used for other purposes, it can be sold to nearby plot owners.”
The city’s 10 natural water channels have also been encroached and the development commissioner instructed BDA and water resources department to remove encroachments on natural drainage channels in the city. The government in 2006 had asked drainage division (Cuttack) to execute renovation of some drains under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), but the project is moving at snail’s pace.
Source: The Times of India
BDA, Bhubaneswar Development Authority, city management group (CMG), Encroachments, Injeti Srinivas, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, JNNURM, National Informatics Centre, NIC, Odisha government, Odisha State Housing Board, Vishal Dev
