BETTIAH, Dec. 27 -- The district administrations of West Champaran and East Champaran have launched a drive to remove encroachments from a vast tract of land belonging to the Bettiah Raj estate spread across the two districts. Officials said while 3329.12 acres of land has been found to under the illegal occupation in West Champaran, 1651 acres of land is encroached in East Champaran district over the years. Among the 16 circles, with 384.09 acres of land Lauria leads the pack in West Champaran, followed by Bagaha - 2 (356.46 acres), Narkatiaganj (304.18 acres) and Piprasi (304.12 acres). "While, 10891 people have been identified as encroachers, a whopping 9579 cases have been identified where jamabandi requires to be canceled," - shows a notice of the revenue officer, Bettiah Raj. In West Champaran, Pragya Naina, circle officer (CO) of Yogapatti, told Hindustan Times that 284.69 acres of land in the circle is under encroachment by 1,599 individuals. "Notices have already been served on 1,031 people facing encroachment charges," the CO said. One of the biggest principalities in Bihar, Bettiah Raj is spread over West Champaran, Chhapra, East Champaran, Patna, Siwan and Gopalganj district of Bihar, besides eight districts of Uttar Pradesh before they were vested with the Bihar government. It has 14,251 acres of land in Bihar including 7640 acres in East Champaran and 122 acres in Uttar Pradesh, according to the records last updated in 1897....