Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said that the portal helped the task force not only to mark as many as 1,53,808 encroachers. (ANI)

In its effort to curb against the menace of land mafia in Uttar Pradesh, the state government on Saturday launched an anti-land mafia portal https://jansunwai.up.nic.in/abmp.html , a patrika.com report said. The people of the state can file their complaints on this website against any illegal occupation in lands belonging to any private or government institutes. Speaking to ANI, state Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said that the portal helped the task force not only to mark as many as 1,53,808 encroachers, but also helped to free 6,794 hectares of land. ” Anti-Land Mafia portal helped our task force mark 1,53,808 encroachers, have freed 6,794 hectares of land in less than 100 days”, he was quoted as saying by the agency.

He further said that about 1,035 land mafias have been marked. Out of them 42 have been booked under Gangster Act, and 70 under Criminal offence. In April, the state government had approved setting up of anti- land mafia task force to check illegal land grabbing in the state, a PTI report had said. The decision was taken in a meeting of state cabinet minister, which was chaired by CM Yogi Adityanath . “The cabinet has approved the setting up of anti-land mafia task force in the state. It will identify land grabbers in two months and strict action will be initiated against them,” the state power minister Shrikant Sharma was quoted as saying by the news agency.

No illegal grabbing of public land will be permitted in the name of religion, the minister had said. He further said that that the task force would work under the supervision of the state Chief Secretary and officials ranging from the District Magistrates, Divisional Commissioners, and Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) would look into the complaints.