YAVATMAL, Sept 23: The Yavatmal District Collector recently passed a landmark order to forfeit the ceiling land allotted to five Kolams of the town.

The decision to forfeit the ceiling land allotted to the tribals residing in the Waghapur locality of Yavatmal town was taken on the basis of a report published in The Indian Express throwing light on how the powerful people of Yavatmal were indulging in exploiting the poor tribals in the district, where they were allotted ceiling land acquired by the State Government for cultivation.

The purpose of allotment of the land was that the beneficiaries should cultivate the allotted land for their livelihood.

The objective of the allotment of ceiling land was crystal clear and for a noble cause. However these allottees failed to cultivate the land for a long time.

Meanwhile, the development took place at a rapid pace thus attracting builders, who started their expansion programme with an ulterior motto, to grab prime land by hook or by crook. They flouted all existing norms of town planning while constructing several multi-storeyed buildings.

Several cases of illegal construction are still pending in the court, while others have been hushed up. The corrupt officials remained silent spectators or became a party to share the booty after striking under-table dealings with the builders.

After due survey, The Indian Express published the modus operandi of the influential persons, mainly layout proprietors and land developers, which prompted the District Collector to order a probe into the issue.

Preliminary inquiry reports revealed that a considerable portion of ceiling land was either kept unused or sold to others at high prices.

Surprisingly, such illegal transaction was traced out in the town also.Out of the seven allottees, two have managed to get non-agricultural permission from the then sub-divisional magistrate of Yavatmal and have sold a piece of land to the builders, who, in turn, resold it at a high price.

The District Collector, armed with The Indian Express special report, has made a thorough inquiry into the situation compelling the tribals to go for an application to get permission to convert the agricultural land into non-agricultural one. It has now come to light that these tribals have been supported by a few builders in the town and they have allegedly made some agreement with the tribals to buy the land on a benami transaction. The poor and illiterate tribals, ignorant of the real value of their land given to them by the state government for cultivation, were offered a considerable price.

Acting quickly upon the deliberate planning of the builders, District Collector V Giriraj ordered the forfeiture of the land given earlier to the tribals on the ground that they have not cultivated it for a long period.Further enquiries with regard to the ceiling land allotment and the illegality prevailing in this regard reveal that over 23714 hectares of land have been acquired under the Ceiling Act in the district of which 16999 hectares have been distributed to different categories of people.

According to sources, land measuring 2836 hectares are yet to be distributed as civil suits are pending at various courts for the last 10-15 years.With the scrapping of allotment of ceiling land in this town, a thorough probe into the malpractice.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.