Question : Illegal Occupation of Land

(a) the total area of vacant land of Railways under encroachment at present;

(b) whether the Railways has prepared any plan for removal of encroachment and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the vacant land is required for servicing and maintenance of track and other infrastructure projects and if so, the number of projects that are pending due to such encroachment;
(d) whether any responsibility has been fixed for encroachment of Railways vacant land and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the stringent action taken/proposed to be taken in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) to (e) : As on 31.03.2016, out of 4.73 lakh hectare land available with Indian Railways, approximately 879.51 hectare (0.18%) land is under encroachment and about 0.52 lakh hectares of land is vacant. The vacant land is mostly in the form of narrow strips along the tracks, which is required for servicing and maintenance of track, bridges and other railway infrastructure. This vacant land is also utilized for execution of various infrastructural projects for meeting future growth needs of Railways which include projects like doubling/tripling and traffic facilities works, etc.
As regards the number of projects pending due to encroachment, information is being collected and will be laid on the Table of the House.
Most of the encroachments are in the approaches of the Stations in Metros and big cities. For these encroachments, Railways carry out regular surveys and take action for their removal. If the encroachments are of a temporary nature (soft encroachment) in the shape of jhuggies, jhopries and squatters, the same are got removed in consultation and with the assistance of Railway Protection Force and local civil authorities. For old encroachments, where party is not amenable to persuasion, action is taken under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Act, 1971 (PPE Act, 1971), as amended from time to time. Actual eviction of unauthorized occupants is carried out with the assistance of State Government and police. Removal of encroachment is a continuous process, as a result of which, in last three years and current year (up to June 2016) 94.28 hectares of encroached land has been retrieved. As there is continuous reduction in encroachment for past many years, no responsibility has been fixed in recent past. However, it has now been decided to fix the responsibility on officials for any new encroachments. Railways have also taken measures to protect Railway land from encroachment which include licensing of land to Railway employees for Grow More Food(GMF) scheme, provision of boundary wall, fencing, tree plantation at vulnerable locations.
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