Extent of encroachment at Kethiganahalli is 71 acres, not 14, says Hiremath

Founder president of Samaj Parivarthjana Samudaya S.R. Hiremath speaking at a press conference in Hubballi on Friday.
| Photo Credit: GIRISH PATTANASHETTI

Welcoming the High Court directive on clearing encroachments over ‘gomala’ land at Kethiganahalli in Ramanagara district, founder president of Samaj Parivarthjana Samudaya (SPS) S.R. Hiremath on Friday said that the extent of encroached land was 71 acres and not 14 acres.

At a press conference in Hubballi on Friday, Mr. Hiremath said that following the HC directive, the authorities had begun clearing the encroachments over the gomala land. However, it had been wrongly reported in a section of media that the extent of encroachment was 14 acres, which was not true, he said.

“We have long before submitted to the court, the detailed enquiry report submitted by tahsildar of Ramanagar taluk dated 02/04/2020, in which it was clearly stated that the extent of encroachments was 71 acres and 30 guntas,” he said.

Mr. Hiremath said that the Ramanagara tahsildar had given details of survey numbers along with the names of the persons who had encroached upon the land. “The court is well aware of the matter and we are thankful to it for issuing directions to the authorities to file compliance reports on having cleared the encroachments,” he said.

Golden jubilee celebrations

Mr. Hiremath said that the golden jubilee celebration conference of Citizens For Democracy (CFD) founded by Jayaprakash Narayan in 1974 would be held at Gandhi Peace Foundation in New Delhi on April 19 and 20 and former Judge of Supreme Court of India Justice Madan M. Lokur would inaugurate it.

In all, seven different sessions would be held on the future course of action and programmes of CFD and issues plaguing the country, which was under a sort of undeclared emergency, he said.

Eminent personalities including Prof. Anand Kumar and Prof. Arun Kumar of JNU, Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), president of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) Ashok Dhawale and others would be delivering talks at conference, he said. Laxman Bakkayi and Mullah of CFD were present.