A panel set up by the Karnataka legislature has alleged encroachment of the government land by Wipro chairman Azim Premji. The joint committee headed by Janata Dal (S) leader A T Ramaswamy has alleged that Premji encroached on 23 guntas of land (40 guntas make an acre) and used to build palm grove and a guest house.
“I am not saying it has been intentionally encroached. It could be a mistake, but it is still a violation. They (the officials) seem to have realized it and have started removing a compound wall that was part of the encroachment,” Ramaswamy said.
However, a Wipro official said there was no truth in the allegation. “Premji bought it in his private capacity from a group of sellers nearly 15 years ago. When it was brought to his notice that some of the land belonged to the government, he voluntarily gave up the land. We don’t know on what basis the allegations are being made,” the official said.
But Ramaswamy said it was not right to say that the wrong had been set right by returning the land. Chastising his officials, he said they do act when ordinary people encroach it, but when it comes to powerful people, they seem to be taking no action.
The committee comprising legislators from across political parties was set up to look at encroachment of government land in Bangalore Urban District. Though it has threatened to come out in public with high profile names of people who had grabbed the government land, but in spite of coming out with two reports it has failed to come out with any big names.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had himself claimed that as many as 280 alleged high profile grabbers of government land in Bangalore would be named but has not yet acted on the claim.
The report says as much as 21,706 acres of land held by the revenue department had been encroached, while 2,179 acres of land with the forest department and 2,878 acres of land owned by the Bangalore Development Authority has been encroached.
