Despite special drive, over 90K acre panchayat land under mafia control

Chandigarh, December 27

Freeing panchayat lands completely from land mafia still seems a Herculean task as despite state government’s special campaign, still over 90,000 acres of panchayat land lies grabbed by the land mafia in the state.

As per a report prepared by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, when the AAP government was formed 1,06,182 lakh acres of panchayat land had been grabbed by the land mafia in the state. In May last year, the government launched a special campaign to free these lands, under which 12,224 acres across the state were freed from land grabbers.

Analysis of the district wise break-up of land grab data brings an astonishing picture to the fore. More lands have been grabbed in the districts where land prices are high. Among all 23 districts of the state, one fourth of the grabbed land falls in Mohali alone.

Of the total grabbed land, around 29,000 acres fall alone in Mohali district. Other districts where major land grabbing has been reported are Hoshiarpur with 11,287 acres, Patiala 9,220, Ludhiana 6,830, Kapurthala 6,174, Amritsar 5,993, Jalandhar 5,253, Gurdaspur 4,041 and Fatehgarh Sahib with 3,350 acres.

Around 94,000 acres of panchayat land is still in illegal possession. While analysing the legal status of the grabbed land, the report stated that for around 61,000 acres the department had failed to file cases under Section 7 of the Village Common Land (Regulation) Act-1961, which gives powers to the government to get the panchayat land vacated from illegal possession.

Similarly, 25,478 acres is under litigation under various department and other courts. However, government officials are allegedly not showing much enthusiasm to get the land back. Besides, cases for 8,175 acres are going on under Section 7 of the PP Act.

Interestingly, the lethargy of the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats is such that despite no court order or any relief in favour of these land grabbers for 6,251 acres, no action has been taken so far. A senior functionary of the department revealed that these 6,251 acres could be freed by tomorrow morning, but there was complete lack of enthusiasm and shortage of staff. The shamlat cell, which was established last year to free the land, is struggling with shortage of manpower as it doesn’t have any other employee than a joint director and a data entry operator.

All attempts to contact Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Laljit Bhullar remained futile.

Mohali tops the chart

Out of the total grabbed land, around 29,000 acres fall in Mohali district. Earlier, The Tribune had highlighted how around 20 real estate companies had grabbed the panchayat land and many of them had even sold plots and done construction as well. In Mohali district alone, 54 chunks of panchayat land in 35 villages have been grabbed by real estate developers

Other districts

Other districts are Hoshiarpur (11,287 acres), Patiala (9,220), Ludhiana (6,830), Kapurthala (6,174), Amritsar (5,993), Jalandhar (5,253), Gurdaspur (4,041) and Fatehgarh Sahib (3,350 acres)