Daily Editorial Update with Vocabulary – Protect government lands

The land scams are shaking the
Telangana polity. No government is immune to the allegations of authorities
turning a blind eye to the unabated
encroachments of government lands.

The land mafia with active connivance of politicians in power has
been usurping the invaluable government lands. The politician, bureaucrat,
business man and criminal nexus are
in full spate to alienate these government lands which can be used for multiple
public purposes.

The skyrocketing prices of land
especially in the large urban agglomerations
have endangered the security of the lands owned by the government.

The absence of proper revenue
records despite advances in information technology that can clearly record and
document the lands accentuates the
process of alienation of government lands.

Lack of transparency is another
culprit. Corruption in the revenue administration adds fuel to the fire.
Middlemen rule the roost in the registration offices.

The loopholes and inadequacies in
the law are often exploited by the vested interests to their advantage. Protracted litigation serves their
purpose.

A comprehensive survey of land
records with a clear statement of ownership rights has to be undertaken.
Efforts earlier in this direction did not fructify.

Lack of funds, political will and
absence of proper records have impeded
the process. But, such a comprehensive survey is essential to decide on the
ownership rights on every piece of land in the state.  It has to be conducted once for all, however
complex and cumbersome the process
may be.

The mapping of government lands
should include identification and fencing of such lands. Productive use of
these lands deters the encroachers from claiming them.

All the encroached government
lands should be reclaimed. A new law can be enacted if needed.  Such government lands so identified and
fenced should be formed into a land bank.

The government can even invite
private land owners to provide their lands on lease to government land
bank.  A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
can be floated to develop these lands in public private partnership model to
reap the recurring commercial value from such lands.

Anecdotal reports indicate that
land sharks capture unused government lands. Yet another way of protecting and
productively using government lands is to develop urban agriculture projects on
government lands.

The Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) of United Nations has also indicated that urban agriculture
would have multiple benefits.  Organic
farming can be encouraged to develop horticultural gardens on these vacant
government lands.

This improves the green cover in
the city besides providing quality vegetables and fruits to the city populace at reasonable prices. Urban
Self Help Groups (SHGs) of poor women can be constituted to take up such
projects.

Besides, protecting government
lands from encroachment such initiative can help in improving urban ecology
while empowering urban poor to an extent. Other innovative measures to
identify, protect and productively utilise urban land spaces owned by
government should be explored. Strict legal enforcement to prevent further
encroachments is the need of the hour.

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