Lok Sabha Question No. 4964 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-31
Subject: Encroachment on Land of Cantonment Areas
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Ramcharan Bohra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4964

TO BE ANSWERED ON 31 st  March, 2023

## ENCROACHMENT ON LAND OF CANTONMENT AREAS

4964.  SHRI RAMCHARAN BOHRA:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

- (a)    whether  cases  of  encroachment on land of cantonment areas have been noticed by the Government;
- (b)  if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether serious operational problems have created due to this type of encroachment;
- (d)  if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)  the steps taken by the Government to resolve such problems?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI AJAY BHATT)

- (a)  &  (b):    The  statement  containing  details  of  encroachments  on  defence  land  under  the management  of  Defence  Estates  Organisation  within  Cantonments  upto  31.12.2022  is  at Annexure. Regular action is taken by the concerned officials to remove encroachments and 322.21  acres  of  defence  land  have  been  freed  from  encroachments  w.e.f.  01.04.2020  to 31.12.2022.
- (c) & (d):  Army authorities have informed that encroachments which were a serious threat have been removed  under  provisions of Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants)  Act  1971.  No  serious  operational  problems  have  occurred  due  to  balance encroachments. Action as per law is initiated for removal of the encroachments.
- (e):  The following steps have been taken to address the problems of encroachment: -
- (i) Regular inspection of Defence Lands is carried out by the concerned offices and they are submitting annual certificates as per rules.
- (ii) Defence land records have been digitized.
- (iii) A  Land  Management  System  has  been  put  in  place  wherein  GIS  layers  of encroachments have been developed which provide information on encroachments over a period of time and helps in preventing fresh encroachments.

- (iv) Defence  land  Audit  has  been  institutionalized  since  the  year  2011-12  as  a continuing process. The land audit for the year 2019-20 & 2020-21 has been completed and report for the year 2020-21 has been published.
- (v) A 'Change detection GIS tool' has been developed which provides details of encroachment over a given span of period. This tool ensures that legal action is taken against all such encroachments.
- (vi) A methodology for evaluating 'Threat' of encroachment on defence land has been devised. Government has allocated funds to DGDE for construction of Boundary Walls/Fences/Pillars around defence land pockets prone to encroachments based on threat matrix.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  4964  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  31.03.2023 REGARDING 'ENCROACHMENT ON LAND OF CANTONMENT AREAS'.

## Details of Encroachments on Defence Land inside Cantonments under the management of Defence Estates Organisation (as on 31.12.2022)

|   Sl. No. | Name of Cantonment   |   Area (in acres) |
|-----------|----------------------|-------------------|
|         1 | Agra                 |            4.0612 |
|         2 | Ahmedabad            |            0.4474 |
|         3 | Ahmednagar           |            2.4538 |
|         4 | Ajmer                |            1.5836 |
|         5 | Allahabad            |           19.5022 |
|         6 | Almora               |            0.0308 |
|         7 | Ambala               |          241.376  |
|         8 | Amritsar             |            0      |
|         9 | Aurangabad           |            8.4376 |
|        10 | Ayodhya              |            4.9975 |
|        11 | Babina               |            1.5872 |
|        12 | BadamibaghCantt.     |            9.097  |
|        13 | Bakloh               |            0.004  |
|        14 | Bareilly             |           15.9212 |
|        15 | Barrackpore          |            0.2874 |
|        16 | Belgaum              |            1.7607 |
|        17 | Cannanore            |            1.2839 |
|        18 | Chakrata             |            0.4115 |
|        19 | Clement Town         |            0      |
|        20 | Dagshai              |            0.0802 |
|        21 | Dalhousie            |            0.1419 |
|        22 | Danapur              |            2.234  |
|        23 | Dehradun             |            5.2281 |
|        24 | Dehuroad             |            8.0834 |
|        25 | Delhi                |           32.945  |
|        26 | Deolali              |            1.8046 |
|        27 | Fatehgarh            |            7.9787 |
|        28 | Ferozepur            |           24.1984 |
|        29 | Jabalpur             |          177.304  |
|        30 | Jalandhar            |            1.1133 |
|        31 | Jalapahar            |            0      |
|        32 | Jammu                |           18.2511 |
|        33 | Jhansi               |            1.4401 |
|        34 | Jutogh               |            0.0345 |

| 35          | Kamptee      |    1.3848 |
|-------------|--------------|-----------|
| 36          | Kanpur       |   43.633  |
| 37          | Kasauli      |    0.6234 |
| 38          | Khasyol      |    0      |
| 39          | Kirkee       |   11.7846 |
| 40          | Landour      |    0.4673 |
| 41          | Lansdowne    |    0.0052 |
| 42          | Lebong       |    0      |
| 43          | Lucknow      |   31.0611 |
| 44          | Mathura      |    1.1116 |
| 45          | Meerut       |   27.1389 |
| 46          | Mhow         |   15.5228 |
| 47          | Morar        |    0.7637 |
| 48          | Nainital     |    0      |
| 49          | Nasirabad    |   24.2109 |
| 50          | Pachmarhi    |    3.701  |
| 51          | Pune         |    0.845  |
| 52          | Ramgarh      |    1.11   |
| 53          | Ranikhet     |    1.594  |
| 54          | Roorkee      |    0.0183 |
| 55          | Saugor       | 1071.18   |
| 56          | Secunderabad |    7.7845 |
| 57          | Shahjahanpur |    2.2649 |
| 58          | Shillong     |    0.8357 |
| 59          | STM          |   22.9221 |
| 60          | Subathu      |    1.9023 |
| 61          | Varanasi     |    0.398  |
| 62          | Wellington   |    0.0236 |
| Grand Total | Grand Total  | 1866.36   |

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