IEP Chandigarh, May 24
Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that if any person who have illegally encroached the government panchayat land, vacated the possession by May 31, no legal action will be taken against them. Addressing a press conference at the local Punjab Bhavan, he said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has already announced that the state government is committed to freeing the land from illegal encroachments and the affluent people who have violated the rules and encroached on expensive government lands will not be spared. Dhaliwal said that appropriate action will be taken from June 1 against those who will not vacate the lands by May 31. He said that many people have been encroaching on government lands for 30 years and if such people still not vacate the land after the appeal of the Chief Minister, then the state government will take strict legal action against them. He further said that the state government’s target is to vacate 6000 acres of land by June 10 this year. Dhaliwal said that last year 9030 acres of land was freed from encroachment, the average market value of this land is around Rs. 2709 crore. He said that due to the Jalandhar by-election, the second phase of this campaign has been started 4-5 days ago and 189 acres of land have been vacated by the encroachers themselves. He also appealed the people to come forward and leave the illegal encroachment of government land so that the revenue collected from this land can be used for the welfare of Punjab. He said that this land is not the ancestral property of anyone but it is the common land of all Punjabis residing in the state and the income generated from this land is to be spent on all the residents of Punjab. Dhaliwal said that last year also on the appeal of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, 3396 acres of land had been vacated by the people themselves. Dhaliwal categorically said that people residing on such land, if any, will not be dislocated during the drive but such occupiers will be requested to dispose of the matter according to the law. He also requested that for the welfare of Punjab and to make the state Rangla Punjab, the illegal encroachers themselves should come forward and hand over these lands to the Punjab government.
