One Man Army! Meet Coimbatore's Social Activist Who Is Waging A Lone Battle Against Land Mafias

SP Thiyagarajan is a social activist from Sowripalayam in Coimbatore who keeps a keen eye on illegal land-grabbers and anti-social elements to reclaim the open space reserve (OSR) land to make some space for parks and recreation.

The 50-year-old has been in the job fearlessly for sixteen years, making efforts to source the information from Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) and Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) through RTI applications. After verifying the information, Thiyagarajan puts up a picket or a fence to distinguish that the reserve site belongs to the corporation.

Retrieved Around 26 Acres Of Encroached Land

The activist says that until now, he has retrieved around 26 acres of encroached land (OSR), whose market value is more than 300 crore. Along with that, he has also supported members of residential welfare associations to retrieve encroached land across the 100 wards. In fact, in Coimbatore corporation alone, Thiyagarajan has found over 50 encroachments in reserve sites and has recovered over 40. However, out of them, ten reserve sites are interspersed in legal battles.

Began In 2004

All of it began in 2004 when he was 34 years old; three people allegedly infringed his neighbouring land at GRG Nagar in the reserve site. After the legal scuffle in sub court, district court, Madras High court, the case is finally now pending in the Supreme Court.

At his neighbouring land, 26 cents were allotted for a park; out of the allotted land, two temples were built in six cents, and the remaining was sold to three different people illegally.

He said, "We are expecting favourable results in the SC. After ten years of waiting, the corporation removed a building and fenced the 26 cents, mentioning that the land belonged to the corporation. I came to know how the reserve sites are being exploited by some people when I decided to fight against them," quoted The New Indian Express.

In 2011, the activist helped recover 51 cents where a house was constructed at Alamu Nagar near Gandhipuram, the highest cent encroached by a resident within the city limit. Not just it, he also has retrieved notable encroached land at Kalapatti, Vilankurichi, and Kothari in Ramanathapuram and etc.

Aim Behind Retrievals

Thiyagarajan aims at protecting innocents from fraud after purchasing the OSR land that was originally allotted for constructing a children's park and community hall.

He said, "The civic body identified over 1,000 reserves sites across 100 wards and listed it on its website along with how much land was encroached and details of the encroachers in 2013. However, no action has been taken against them in nine years. I will continue to fight until Coimbatore corporation become the role model for the other 20 corporations across the State in retrieving the OSR land," quoted the publication.

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