Continuing its drive against encroachment, Indian Railway has recovered 106 hectares of land from unauthorised occupation.
However, despite regular drives, about 914.80 hectares of Railway land is still under unauthorised occupation.
"We carry out regular surveys and take action against encroachment. However, currently out of 4.61 lakh hectares of land available with Railway, 106 hectares have been retrieved till March 31, 2015, which is about 0.19 per cent of total land," said a senior Railway Ministry official.
During 2014 and 2015, a total 1,261 demolition drives were conducted by the zonal railways to free Railway land from encroachments.
The official said if the encroachments are of a temporary nature like slums and squatters, these are got removed in consultation with and assistance of RPF and local authorities.
For old encroachments, where encroachers are not amenable to persuasion, action is taken under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.
Recently the demolition drive against encroachments got a setback in Delhi division when a child was allegedly killed during the eviction process.
Besides demolition, measures like construction of boundary wall, fencing, tree plantation at vulnerable locations are carried out to protect Railway land from encroachments.
According to the Ministry data, 352 km boundary walls have been constructed to check encroachment around vulnerable locations.
