IEP Chandigarh, August 2
Punjab Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, on Wednesday, directed all the field officers to vigorously continue the campaign of vacating encroached panchayat land after the recent floods in the state. Presiding over an important meeting with all the Additional Deputy Commissioners (Development), Deputy Directors and DDPOs of the department at Vikas Bhawan (Mohali), S. Laljit Singh Bhullar said that although the department has successfully reclaimed 11,665 acres of panchayat land, but still thousands acres of cultivable and non-cultivable land is encroached in the state. Sternly addressing the issue of land mafia involvement in mining on panchayat land, the Cabinet Minister directed the officials to promptly lodge FIRs against such illegal activities. Reiterating the commitment to uphold integrity and accountability, the Rural Development and Panchayats Minister unequivocally stated that the government will not tolerate any collusion of department officials and employees in illegal land occupations. The minister was apprised that this year, the government has collected Rs.432.71 crores revenue through the auctioning of 1.34 lakh acres of shamlat land. He instructed officials to swiftly auction the remaining around 7,000 acres of land within a week. During the first meeting with the field officers, while Laljit Singh Bhullar reviewed the situation after the floods in the state and the work done by the department, he also became acquainted with the performance of the officers posted at head office and field. He instructed all the officials that the work at the village level should be carried out as per the vision of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Mann. He also directed to continuously monitor the performance of the field officers and officers with poor performance should be punished. The Cabinet Minister reviewed various schemes such as settlement of panchayat roads leading to residential colonies and projects, solid and liquid waste management, renovation of ponds, conducting 100 percent audit of panchayati raj institutions, work under MNREGA, Livelihood Mission, issues related to rent of properties and shops of Zilla Parishads/Panchayat Samitis, expediting grievance redressal, expediting the process of disposal of court cases and implementation of EPM module in technical institutes. Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included, Principal Secretary Mr. D.K. Tiwari, Director Mr. Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Joint Development Commissioner Mr. Amit Kumar, Additional Director Mr. Sanjeev Garg, Joint Director Mr. Jagwinderjit Singh Sandhu, Mr. Joginder Kumar, Mr. Jatinder Singh Brar and other officers of the department.
