Ranchi: The cabinet decision to regularise illegal settlements on government land in the state's urban areas has left government officials at the district collectorate here and Ranchi Municipal Corporation clueless about its implementation.

Mayor Asha Lakra, who is also a BJP member, said though there were large-scale unauthorised settlements in urban Ranchi, she was not aware of the exact number and the total land involved. The officials of district collectorate and the Ranchi Regional Development Authority know no better.

"Be it Main Road, Harmu or Bariatu, there is large-scale encroachment everywhere. People claim to have been living on these government land since ages. We are not even aware of the total land available. Two years ago, we had begun a survey, but the surveyor died after a few months. The work has been abandoned since then," Lakra told The Telegraph.

The mayor said the RMC, Ranchi zilla parishad and the district administration were staking claims to Bariatu Hill, which has large-scale encroachments in areas surrounding it. However, no one knows whose job is it to regularise the settlements that took place before 1985 and drive out the rest.

"There is also utter confusion about the total fee that the individual lessees will have to pay for formal transfer of land on 30 years' lease. As far I know, land prices in different areas have not been fixed. The Ranchi district administration, zilla parishad and the RMC, therefore have challenges ahead," Lakra added.

According to the cabinet decision, if the land price is Rs 1 lakh per decimal, the lessee will have to pay Rs 10,000 towards salami (surface rent) and Rs 15,000 towards lagan (tax or land revenue fees), amounting to Rs 25,000 for 30 years.

A maximum of 10 decimal land can be leased out to a bona fide claimant.

"Land prices vary from revenue circle to circle and mauja to mauja. The DCs concerned will have to first carry out extensive surveys, fix land prices, invite applications from individual claimants and verify their credentials. Thereafter, the land can be formally leased out with the state government's permission," land revenue department joint secretary Uday Pratap said.

In December last year, the cabinet had decided to regularise unauthorised settlements on government land in rural areas by providing maximum 12.5 decimal land for a house and five acres for agriculture.

Recognised refugees from East Pakistan (Bangladesh), West Pakistan (Pakistan) and Burma (Myanmar) too are entitled to these benefits. However, there has been no significant progress since then.