Realtors encroaching lands

M Srinivasa Murthy Chittoor: Land encroachments are continuing unabated in Chittoor which happens to be the native district of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. With land sharks encroaching on lakes, school sites, grave yards, temple lands, hills and valleys, the poor can hardly dream of owning a house in Chittoor. They were being made to run from pillar to post by the officials concerned to purchase a house site. The usual answer that they always get from the officials was non-availability of land. A case in point is Pileru town, which is surrounded by 20 mandals and is on the borders of Kadapa and Chittoor. As the Pileru constituency is represented by the Chief Minister, hundreds crores of rupees have been pumped into it for the provision of infrastructure development and providing basic amenities. Some of the realtors with the connivance of the officials' concerned and political leaders have encroached on the lands here. The town is expanding in a brisk pace as it is near Chittoor, Madanapalle, Tirupati, and Rayachoti and the demand for land has shot up in an unprecedented manner. Furthermore, the price of a piece of land in Pileru is much higher than that of the temple town of Tirupati. Now, everybody is eyeing the land of Pileru. With Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy showing special interest in the development of his constituency, Pileru gained prominence. Hence, a Sainik school, a CRPF Training Centre, an engineering college affiliated to JNTU, and an agriculture research centre, Polytechnique College, ITI college, a girls residential college and a Navodaya school have been sanctioned. According to official estimates, Rs 300 crore has been sanctioned for various development activities. Recently, one of the realtors demolished the compound wall of a girls school and encroached on the school playground. He also laid a cement concrete road for his real estate venture. Moreover, he also encroached on a lake. Some other land grabbers have encroached on grave yards and temple lands. If they find any trace of a government land, they would immediately encroach on it with the help of political leaders. Even the greeneries on the hills were also being destroyed for the sake of the realtors. It is sad to see the hills and lakes in Chittoor becoming extinct gradually at the behest of the overzealous realtors. Unfortunately, the government is not even in a position to allocate a piece of land for the poor to construct a small house. They were just being made to run around the revenue officials without any result.