Nearly 3,900 acres registered in names of Ganga, Ramganga freed from land grabbers in Shahjahanpur

They removed the rivers names from official records and used the land for agriculture, he said.A probe by Additional District Magistrate Judicial Rashid Ali revealed that the flow of the Ganga covered 3,912 acres in Jalalabad and Kalan tehsils.

The district administration has freed land worth Rs 300 crore registered in the names of the Ganga and the Ramganga in official records from the ''land mafia'', a senior official said on Friday.

District Magistrate Umesh Pratap Singh said the land mafia had colluded with revenue officials and grabbed 6,312 bigha (about 3,912 acres) registered in the name of the rivers. They removed the rivers' names from official records and used the land for agriculture, he said.

A probe by Additional District Magistrate (Judicial) Rashid Ali revealed that the flow of the Ganga covered 3,912 acres in Jalalabad and Kalan tehsils. The land was registered in the names of the Ganga and the Ramganga in 1952. The land grabbers changed the registration in collusion with the revenue department officials, Ali found in his probe.

The district magistrate said the land had become fertile after the Ganga's course changed and added that agriculture had reduced the breadth of the Ganga. The land grabbers also obtained bank loans for it, he added.

The district magistrate said no action was initiated despite 'chakbandi' (verification and demarcation) of the land. 'Chakbandi' is the exercise of amalgamating and redistributing fragmented land holdings.

Ali, who conducted the probe, said 40 land grabbers had registered the 6,312 bigha in the name of 500 people in official records. However, the possession was with them.

The land has now been ''restored'' to the rivers, he said.

The officials, including those who have retired, responsible for colluding with the land mafia to change the registration have been identified and strict action will be initiated against them, the district magistrate said.

The flow of the Ganga covers 15 km in Shahjahanpur while the Ramganga covers nearly 40 km, the officials said.