Army seeks equal value of infrastructure in lieu of encroached land in Haryana

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, April 22

The Army has sought resolution of encroachment on land owned by it in Haryana or equal value of infrastructure in lieu of it in cases where it is not viable to remove the existing structures.

A high-level meeting was held between Headquarters Western Command and the Haryana Government to resolve the long outstanding issues pertaining to unauthorised use of defence land by various departments of the state government as well as private parties.. 

“Issues regarding ownership of land and its unauthorised use and exchange of defence land in Haryana were discussed at the meeting in a progressive atmosphere,” a spokesperson for the Western Command said.

“A number of high-level decisions were taken to expedite the resolution of outstanding issues in a time bound manner and suitable instructions were passed to concerned departments on both sides. These include joint demarcation of land, ratifying documents and resolving disparities in land records held by the state and the army,” he added.

Various camping grounds and a large number of pockets adjoining military installations have among assets that have been encroached upon, with structures and buildings coming up over the past many years.

According to figures tabled in Parliament earlier this year, 504.5661 acres of defence land in Haryana is under encroachment. Haryana figures among the top five states in terms of the area of defence land under encroachment. The other states are Uttar PradeshMadhya Pradesh, Mahrashtra and West Bengal

In accordance with government rules, the Army can ask the civil administration to get the encroached land vacated or seek equal value of infrastructure from the state government at a suitable place.

The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Haryana, P Das, officials of the Revenue Department, Maj Gen Harinder Singh, Major General Operational Logistics, Western Command, Col JS Sandhu, Advisor, Civil-Military Affairs, Col Bhupinder Singh, Colonel Quarter Master (Land) and representatives of the Department of Defence Estates.