Jamshedpur: Top govt, civic officials inspect Jawaharnagar plot, prepare strategy to keep land sharks at bay

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, Dec 1: Top officials of the district administration and Mango Municipal Corporation on Thursday inspected a government plot in Mango that had been drawing the attention of land-grabbers since some time.

The empty plot in question, located near the water treatment plant alongside road number 15 of Jawaharnagar, is being eyed by some unscrupulous land agents who have also tried to sell portions of it. City police officials believe dispute between land agents quarrelling over this piece of government land has resulted in some crimes too.

In October, 30 year-old Mohammad Zahid, was stoned to death in an abandoned house located close to road number 13B of Jawaharnagar in Mango. Police officials probing the case suspect that a land dispute had led to Zahid’s murder. The cops recovered the body of the deceased from the abandoned house in the morning. Zahid’s brother Sehzad pointed the needle of suspicion towards another person who was eyeing the same plot. Police officials claimed that the plot in question is actually owned by the government.

On Thursday a team consisting of ADM (law and order) NK Lal, SDO Piyush Kumar Sinha, executive officer of MMC Suresh Yadav along with police protection reached the spot and inspected the physical status of the land. The local residents told the officers where the government land had been encroached. The officers discussed means and steps to be initiated to stop the illegal activities and attempts to usurp the government land.

Earlier too a team of government officials had found a number of government plots grabbed by the land sharks. The district administration with help of civic and police officials had carried out a drive to free the encroached land. After the operation the officials had ensured that a notice board was put up on the lands. However, in some, cases the land mafia had removed the government notice boards and erected a boundary wall to proclaim that the land as their own.

The team decided to put up notice boards proclaiming that the land is government-owned. Lal said: “We have received complaints about land mafia trying to grab the land. We visited the plot to ascertain its current status.”

The government officials added that apart from the government land in Jawaharnagar there are two other government-owned plots which are being eyed by land sharks that are slowly encroaching upon them and illegally selling portions of these lands. Sources also said that the land sharks are also eyeing empty plots belonging to the forest department.