Cracking down on land sharks that prey on government land, Bengaluru District administration on Saturday launched simultaneous encroachment eviction drive in all the five taluks of Bengaluru Urban district.
Following a day-long drive against land encroachers led by deputy commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district B M Vijayashankar, a total of 25.26 acres of government land worth Rs 176 crore was recovered.
According to sources in the revenue department, the highest extent of encroachment was cleared in Anekal taluk.
“A total of 8.61 acres of encroached land worth Rs 36 crore was recovered. All these were the lake areas, located on the periphery of the waterbodies,” said C Mahadevaiah, tahsildar, Anekal.
Similarly, in Yelahanka taluk also the officials reclaimed the encroached government land.
Even though the locals threatened to stage a protest and gathered in large numbers, the deputy commissioner himself led the officials with police support and reclaimed more than 3 acres of land worth Rs 65 crore.
The encroached lands were identified in Puttenahalli, Kogilu and Honnenahalli villages of Yelahanka taluk.