The legislative committee appointed by the Government has submitted its report to the Government on the lake encroachment. The speaker of the Assembly has said that the report is filed and the Government must immediately clear the encroachment and recover the lake beds and buffer zone lands, which were encroached by the Government departments and private persons.
Many illegal or unauthorised layouts, buildings, apartments and commercial complexes adjoining the lakes will be adversely affected. The DC Converted layouts without the layout approval by the planning authorities, adjacent to the lakes where the buffer zone is encroached will be cleared either today or in the future.
The Anti-Land Grabbing Struggle Committee, led by freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy, has set a January 18 as the deadline for the government to set up special courts to try land-grabbers under the Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 2011.
The Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill got the Presidential assent in October 2014 and the government had announced a year ago that it will set up special courts to try land-grabbing cases. But no court has been set up yet.
A.T. Ramaswamy, who chaired the Joint Legislature Committee that reported on encroachment of government land in Bengaluru, said: “The K.B. Koliwad report clearly names those who have encroached lakes in the city. My report has been lying with the government and no action has been taken. The government needs to set up special courts and try all the encroachers named in the two reports immediately. Steps need to be taken to recover these lands.”
The Anti-Land Grabbing Struggle Committee had held a 39-day protest in the city in September 2014 demanding special courts to try land-grabbing cases.