Adarsh Developers encroached upon 19.69 acres: official letter

Even as Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa claimed that Adarsh Developers, a real-estate firm which has made donations to his family members' trust, has not indulged in any encroachment, a letter by the then Revenue Secretary and Managing Director of Karnataka Public Lands Corporation Limited confirms encroachment of a tank bed area in Devarabeesanahalli of Bangalore by this firm.

In the letter of June, 7, 2010 and addressed to the Chief Minister's principal secretary, copies of which were given to the press by the Opposition parties here on Wednesday, the then Revenue Secretary (Manjula) has stated that an official survey of the tank bed area had confirmed encroachment of 19.69 acres by Adarsh Developers and two others.

Interestingly, she has accused the Chief Minister's office of intervening in the matter by stating in the letter that: “this is the second case concerning a developer where the Chief Minister's Office has intervened.” Without mincing words, she says: “If we turn a Nelson's eye to encroachments by powerful people and developers, we will have no moral courage to initiate action against any other encroacher.”

Further, she says: “I would like to bring to the notice of the Government that action as initiated under Section 192-A of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act will have to be continued as per rules as there is no provision to ignore encroachment of government land by any authority/organisation/individual or collusion by government officials with encroachers.”

Accusing Adarsh Developers of colluding with officials to cover up encroachment, she says that a first survey had wrongly showed the extent of encroachment as only 10 guntas (one-fourth of an acre). However, following public complaints against the authenticity of this survey, a second survey was conducted by a different team of surveyors who concluded that 19.69 acres of land had been encroached. Charges were being framed against the first survey team for colluding with the developer to file a wrong report, she said.

In another instance, BBMP officials had colluded with the developer when asked to fence the lake bed area. They had left out 13.21 acres of encroachments while fencing the area. This encroachment was in the form of a road that had been constructed partially on the lake bed. She said that this was not a public road as it was being used only by the developer and access to this road was being controlled by the firm by posting a security guard and constructing a security gate. Referring to the letter, Janata Dal (S) MLC Y.S.V. Datta alleged that the Government had transferred the then Revenue Secretary as well as tahsildar and surveyor concerned after they brought the issue to light.

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