TIRUNELVELI: With the Tirunelveli SP admitting that 50 cases of land grabbing by mafia have been registered with the police in the last three months, a spurt in land grabs came to light. Interestingly, it was a government move has triggered it.

After the State Government came out with projects such as an IT park at Gangaikondan and a multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district, the cost of land per acre (100 cents) has gone up to Rs 30 lakh — in Nanguneri for instance.

Valliyoor is another; it being the nearest town panchayat from the SEZ site, the rate there is between Rs 80,000 and Rs 1 lakh a cent.

Before the announcement of the SEZ, the cost of three cents of land in this area was only Rs 600 (wholesale price), and small brokers were struggling hard to sell it for Rs 3,000.

Around 3,000 land brokers are operating in and around the SEZ site at present. Another interesting aspect is that the once sleepy registration office at Nanguneri has become one of the busiest in the district.

Since the demand for land has undergone a sea change in Tirunelveli district, the operation of criminals involved in land grabbing has intensified. According to sources from the revenue department, these criminals collect information about lands lying vacant for several years from the Office of the Village Administrative Officer. They then collect details about the background of the landowner, and when everything favours them, the criminals, with the assistance of the revenue and registration department officials forge the parent document by including a new name.

Moreover, the VAO’s receive the taxes payable based on these forged documents, the source added.

A portion of the 1 acre and 77 cents of land at the eastern side of Sarah Tucker College in Tirunelveli, which belonged to the wife of A Mahendran, District Congress Secretary, Thoothukudi had been grabbed by a group of anti-socials in Tirunelveli. The criminals had created forged documents and grabbed 33 cents of the land, belonging to Mahendran’s wife.

Mahendran says, “I have taken up this issue with the top revenue officials and the police. I can assure that this cheating could not have happened without the assistance of the revenue officials. To put an end to this rising menace, the police and revenue depatment officials have to take immediate action against the culprits.”

Superintendent of Police, R Dhinakaran said, “The documents are forged with the assistance of the government officials,” he admitted. “We have decided to book the criminals involved in land mafia under the Goondas Act,” he added. feedback@epmltd.com