Narmadapuram (Madhya Pradesh): The district administration has freed 18 hectares from encroachers in Khadra village under the Sohagpur assembly constituency.
According to reports, a team consisting of revenue, forest and police officials freed the land on Tuesday. The cost of the land is Rs 5 crore, official sources said.
It was allotted to those who were ousted from their villages because of the Satpura Tiger Reserve project. Official sources said some people from Chhindwara had encroached upon the land where they built houses and were growing crops.
Sub-divisional magistrate Neeta Kori had been in touch with the encroachers. The officials initially held several meetings with the encroachers and told them that they would get a piece of land once they had left the place, but they did not listen to the officials.
A 250-member team consisting of revenue, forest and police officials, with the help of five bulldozers and six tractor trolleys, removed the encroachers. The operation that began at 6am continued for six hours. Divisional forest officer Mayank Singh Gurjar said encroachers had been there for a long time.
The administration allotted the land to the Khamda village residents, who had to leave the place for the Satpura Tiger Reserve project. Kori said a joint team comprising the officials of revenue, forest and police departments with the help of bulldozers and tractor trolleys had freed the land and put a barrier around it. The officials also kept fire engines, drones, ambulances and women forces ready to deal with any emergency situation. Because the area comes under the Sohagpur assembly constituency, the officials informed the MLA from the area, Thakur Vijaypal Singh, about the operation, Kori said. The purpose of the CM Rise School is to strengthen the foundation of primary education.
