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The Tema Development Corporation (TDC) has joined forces with the National Security Service in Tema to get rid of land guards who are operating in Adjei Kojo and the Ramsar Site located along the Nungua-Ashaiman highway. Code named Operation Halt II, the exercise would be parading a combined team of police and military personnel to flush out these land guards from the areas mentioned above, which falls under TDC�s area of jurisdiction. According to Dorothy Asare-Kumah, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of TDC, in a press statement she released in Tema on Friday, the exercise has become necessary because the land guards are making life very difficult for people who have legitimately acquired land from the Corporation. She hinted; �During the period of operation, the joint Police�Military team will work to apprehend all those operating as land guards and also put a stop to the illegal development of government land particularly in the Adjei Kojo area and the Ramsar Site�. Giving a brief background of the Corporation, the PRO said TDC is a public real estate development company in Ghana, which was established in 1952 to develop the new township of Tema to provide accommodation for the numerous workers, who were to be employed for the industrial activities to be created by the synergy of the construction of the Tema Port and the Akosombo Dam. The development of the new modern township of Tema commenced in 1952, when the Government compulsorily acquired some 63sq. miles of land from the traditional authorities of Tema, Nungua and Kpone by which it leased out to the newly-established Tema Development Corporation, she noted. She continued that the payment of full compensation to the three stools thus freed the land of any encumbrances allowing the government through TDC, the full use of the lands so acquired. TDC was established as corporate body by L.I 469 of 1965 with the object to plan, layout and develop the Tema Acquisition Area (TAA). This was subsequently amended in 1989 by a Legislative Instrument (L1 1468), she added. The TDC PRO observed that in line with its mandate, TDC has developed 25 self-serving communities laced with industrial, commercial and institutional activities. However, Ms Dorothy explained that the major challenge the Corporation faces in its operations is the blatant encroachment of lands, illegal sale of lands by individuals and some traditional authorities in the metropolis. �Thousands of acres of lands have been lost to encroachers with government losing over 740 acres of land in one community alone. Some of the worst hit areas are Adjei Kojo and its environs, Gulf City, Bethlehem and the Ramser Site around Klagon. �The illicit sale of lands has been fuelled by land guards whose activities have assumed alarming proportions and who act with unbelievable impunity. These land guards who are heavily armed adopt a militant posture descending on innocent citizens who have legitimately acquired their lands and unleash terror on them simply because of their insatiable desire to constantly make monetary gains from property that does not belong to them. �A recent case involved a member of the TDC Task Force who in an attempt to draw attention to an illegal land development almost had his wrist severed when he tried to block off an attempt to slash his neck by a land guard�, she explained. Ms Dorothy Asare-Kumah appealed to members of the general public to cooperate with the National Security Service in this exercise to bring sanity into land development in the area.