With an aim to free Government land from squatters, the Yogi Government on Tuesday set up an anti-land mafia task force, which will identify encroached land in the next two months so that a process to retrieve it could be initiated.
In another landmark decision taken in a Cabinet meeting, the Uttar Pradesh Government will curtail 15 holidays approved by previous Governments on the birth and death anniversaries of eminent personalities.
Talking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Government spokesman and Power Minister Shrikant Sharma said, “The anti-land mafia task force will work at the State, divisional, district and tehsil level to identify Government land that has been encroached. This force will also initiate the process of freeing private land from encroachers as and when police get a complaint.”
“The construction of religious places will also not be allowed on encroached public land irrespective of the religion,” he added.
The BJP had made a commitment to remove encroachers from Government land after the Jawahar Bagh incident in Mathura came to light where over 300 acre was encroached by squatters.
“In our manifesto we promised to set up an anti-land mafia task force and we have fulfilled that promise,” Sharma said.
At the State level, the task force will be headed by the Chief Secretary, at the divisional level by the Commissioner, at the district level by the District Magistrates and at the Tehsil level by the Sub-Divisional Magistrates.
A portal, jansunvai.up.nic.in. has also been launched in which land grabbing complaints can be registered by the public.
“The Cabinet has given two months to the task force to identify Government land that has been encroached because generally no one lodges complaints about encroachment of Government land. In case of private land, people can lodge a complaint with the police. After proper verification of complete facts and figures, action would be taken against encroachers. The task force will also identify the officials who helped people encroach Government land,” he said and added that police have also been asked to prepare a list of famous land grabbers who work in connivance with officials.
Sharma refused to divulge whether the Government has set a time frame to free all Government land from squatters.
The Cabinet has also decided that no one will be allowed to usurp land in the name of religion. “The construction of religious places, temples, mosques or mazars on encroached public land will not be allowed,” he said.
Principal Secretary Revenue Arvind Kumar said that the Supreme Court in its order in 2009 had asked the Government not to allow encroachment of land in the name of religious places. In 2010 a detailed Government order was issued by the Home Department. “The Cabinet has reiterated that the court’s order should be implemented in letter and in spirit,” he said.
Briefing reporters about the UP Government’s decision to curtail 15 holidays, Sharma said that during the birth and death anniversaries of eminent personalities, all schools and colleges will have an hour-long function educating students about the achievements of these personalities.
The holidays that have been curtailed under the Negotiable Instruments Act are, Karpoori Thakur’s birth anniversary (Jan 24), Mahrishi Kashyap avum Maharaj Guha Jayanti (April 5), Cheti Chand (March 29), Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti (April 14), Chandrashekhar Jayanti (April 17), Parshuram Jayanti (April 28), loknayak Maharana Pratap Jayanti (May 9), Jumatul Vida, Vishwakarma Puja (Sept 17), Maharaja Agrasen Jayanti (Sept 21), Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti (Oct 5), Chhat Puja (Oct 26), Sardar Vallabhbhi Patel and Acharya Narendra Dev Jayanti (October 31), Eid-e-Milad and Chaudhary Charan Singh Jayanti (Dec 23).