Nearly 730 hectares of the railway land in the country are encroached upon, the Standing Committee of Railways has said in its latest report. Over the last three years, the Railways have conducted nearly 9,700 surveys and recovered 100-odd hectares. Eviction drives are still on in many places.

To prevent encroachments, the Committee suggests conducting regular surveys and construction of boundary walls at vulnerable locations prone to encroachments and trespassing, deployment of RPF for checking encroachments and keeping a vigil of vacant land prone to encroachment, through field officers.

A number of encroachment cases are sub-judice “for which more than 1,200 advocates are on the panel of Railways who amongst other matters deal with these cases across all zones”.

Railways were also asked to carry out a comprehensive legal review of all pending sub-judice cases relating to encroachment of Railway land. “...recommend to the Railways to conduct the surveys by field officers frequently and to set up a proper monitoring mechanism to check the working and outcome of field officers and surveys,” it said in a report adding that there was a need for “imparting tailor made training to field officers to deal with such encroachment cases”.

The Standing Committee on Railways in chaired by Radha Mohan Singh.

Hurdles in eviction drive

The Railways in its response has mentioned that encroachments “which are soft in nature are removed promptly”.

For encroachments of hard type (other than those pending in courts), the process includes serving of notice within 7 days from receipt of information; show cause notice not later than 7 days from the date of issue of notice; issuing eviction orders within the 15 days from the date specified in the notice. The eviction drive is carried out “not later than fifteen days from the date of the order”.

“However, due to the lack of support from local bodies/ civil administration, local law and order issue, pending court cases, the above timeline is difficult to adhere to for removal of encroachment in most of the cases,” the Railways mentioned in its response.

It added that in some locations, public representatives or local bodies or State Governments demand to carry out rehabilitation and resettlement of the encroachers prior to demolition “but the same is not agreed by the Zonal railways as there is no such provision in the policies/guidelines of Railway Board.”

The Standing Committee further suggested that coordinated efforts be made among Railway, law enforcement agencies and local authorities to ensure effective enforcement of courts orders and eviction of encroachers, once judgements are passed .

Vacant land of RLDA

It was also noted that out of total vacant Railway land of about 62,068.21 hectares, a majority or about 60 -70 per cent consist of “narrow strips” along tracks which is utilized for various operational needs.

Some 1,216 hectares of vacant land has been handed over to RLDA (Rail Land Development Authority) for commercial development. Out of this, 66.91 hectares has been given by RLDA for commercial development, so far. The Ministry was asked to establish a streamlined approval process for fast tracking permissions, clearances and permits for expeditious commercial development on Railway land.

Incidentally, zonal railways and RLDA have been advised to identify vacant land that “will not be required for immediate or future use” and to submit proposals to the Railway Board for commercial utilization.

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