MUDA takes back land worth Rs 160 cr from encroachers

Mysuru: In a major eviction drive, Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) took into its possession 6.14 acres of land worth 160 crore in Survey No 123/1 in Basavanalli on the outskirts of the city. Armed with a recent court order, MUDA officials in an early morning drive with police security dismantled a shed on the land encroached by land sharks.

According to MUDA Commissioner D B Natesh, "The land was acquired on December 23, 1991/1992 by the Authority to develop second phase of Vijayanagar Fourth Stage layout. As the supposed landowners failed to produce relevant documents to claim compensation, an amount of Rs 4.93 lakh was deposited in the High Court. However, the 'landowners' had moved court questioning the compensation amount.

Now, the court ruled in favour of MUDA. The Authority intends to develop a total of 163 sites including 35in the dimension of 40×60, 19 in 30×40, 64 in 20×30 and another 45 in odd dimension.

MUDA Commissioner Natesh, Superintendent Engineer Shankar, land acquisition officer Harshavardhan, executive engineers Mohan and Sathyanarayan Joshi, zonal officers K R Mahesh, Raveendra Kumar, Shivanna, Nagesh, Ravishankar and Raghavendra were present during the drive.