Chennai: A massive tree plantation work initiated by Tiruvallur collector K. Veera Raghava Rao has hit a road block in a village in the district with an encroacher on three acres of government land refusing to move out.
The collector passed an order in May that one lakh tree saplings would be planted in the district through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme.
When officials went to Medhur village, near Minjur, they found that M.V. Srinivasan, a farmer, had encroached on government poromboke land worth Rs 1 crore, in which saplings are to be planted.
On the block development officer’s (BDO) orders, the village administrative officer after verifying the records confirmed that the land had been classified as ‘government kalangal poromboke.’
On coming to know of this, Srinivasan filed a petition with milk and dairy development minister B.V. Ramanaa, who is the minister in-charge for the district, stating that he was in possession of the land for the last
20 years and the land had been categorised as 2A of the revenue department (Poromboke land). Hence, he may be permitted to enjoy the property. Meanwhile, Medhur panchayat union president R. Kalaichelvi Ramesh wrote to the revenue department pointing out that some persons had encroached upon government lands and did not allow officials to plant sapling there.
Asked for his comments, Srinivasan said he had been in possession of the land for the past two decades and he had been serving society as a farmer cultivating paddy in that land.
“Why not government select some other land for its tree plantation project?” he asked. Revenue divisional officer (RDO) Narayanan confirmed to DC that the land belonged to the state government and classified as ‘Poromboke’. “As Srinivasan has planted paddy we will wait for the harvest and then take over the land from him for the tree planting project," he said.
