Houses built on govt land demolished in Ballari, poor owners lose money, property

BALLARI: Officials demolishing houses built on vacant land, while on the other hand, women standing in front of their leveled houses and crying — these scenes were witnessed in Boodihal under Ballari City Corporation limits.

The houses belonged to people who earn a living by doing daily wage work. Because they didn’t have a house to live in, they were staying in rented homes and were exhausted from paying rent every month. Thinking they got a site at a low price, these innocent people bought it and proceeded to build a house, only to face a shock. The people who have been massively cheated by the husband of a Congress Municipal Corporation member are now helpless and in tears.

Shivaraj, husband of Umadevi, the Congress corporator of Ballari City Corporation’s 7th ward, encroached on 7.78 acres of government land, formed a layout, and sold each 20×30 sites to the poor for Rs 1.50 lakh each. Unaware that this was government land, people took loans and bought sites at a low price with the hope of building their own house.

But the Ballari district administration has waged a war against encroachers of government land, and started identifying and clearing plots where compounds were built and layouts formed on government land. When they came to clear this land too, people realised they had been deceived.

Now, with no house and no money either, they are in tears. They are pleading, “Give us justice. We built it by taking loans and now this situation has come. Shivaraj, who took money from us, is now not available. Who should we ask?” they expressed their outrage.

Further, a video of this Shivaraj taking bundles of money from the poor is also available. Sitting at home, he cheated by showing fake documents, saying he would get sites at a low price and later get BUDA approval. “I am the corporator here. I will get you land at a low price”, he said and lured people with false promises.

Now that all this is coming to light, Shivaraj has done a U-turn and started saying he has nothing to do with this. “I am a senior leader of the Congress party. People came to me asking for land. A person named Honnur had the RTC. At that time I acted as a mediator. Now we will return the money given to the people who have been wronged”, he said. But when asked about the money for the houses they built, he said “I don’t know anything”, trying to play the innocent card.

Innocent people who bought land by paying lakhs without knowing any of this are now literally devastated. “The loan we took is not yet cleared, and this situation has come upon us”, they said in tears. The district administration and the police department must wake up immediately, take action against the miscreants who have cheated innocent people, and ensure justice is delivered.