State, district committees to clear encroachments

Chennai, Dec 1 (UNI) Tamil Nadu government today announced constitution of state and district level committees to clear encroachments in government lands and waterbodies in the state.

An official release here said the five-member district level committees, headed by the District Collector would fix the time frame for removing the encroachments and meet once every month to draw the action plan. The district committees' functions would be reviewed at the state level by Special Commissioner Land Administration, the release added.

Following the orders of Madras High Court in June 2002 on encroachments, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi ordered the constitution of a state-level committe, headed by Revenue Minister, which would be held accountable for encroachments, the release said.

The release said officials in the state-level committee would include the Chief Secretary and Secretaries of Revenue, Environment and Forest, Rural Development, Home, Public Works, Highways and Land Administration.

The non-officials included Tambaram DMK Legislator S R Raja, Pallipattu Congress MLA E S S Raman, elected representatives of six corporations and Ambattur and Tirupur Municipalities, the release added.

The state-level commitee would monitor removal of encroachments in water bodies and supervise the functions of the district level committees.

The release said the Committee would also take decisions on removing more than 20-year-old permanent structures in government poromboke lands and give its verdicts on matters, which could not be decided by the district committees.

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