The district administration here has cancelled leases of 20 pieces of land given to 17 people for plantation which they allegedly used for farming purposes.
17 people, who belong to Katri Domanpur and Kharoti villages, were given government land in 2007 and 2009 under a greenery scheme to plant saplings. However, they used the land for farming, District Magistrate (DM) Roshan Jacob said.
Despite several warnings by village accountant, they continued to use the land for farming, he said.
Upon receiving information, tehsildar Anil Kumar recommended the DM to cancel the leases.
Accordingly, the leases have been cancelled, the DM said, adding, he has ordered a probe to assess whether owners of such land under the greenery scheme in other villages are following the ownership directives properly.
