Written by: JAGEEP SINGH DEEP
2 min readMohaliSep 7, 2015 05:59 AM IST
First published on: Sep 7, 2015 at 04:57 AM IST
More than 750 acres of government land worth several crores is under illegal possession in the district and the local administration has failed to get it vacated despite the directions of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department.
At a recent meeting chaired by Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Sikander Singh Maluka, officials of the local administration were told to produce records of the illegally occupied land in the district and also the steps taken to get it vacated.
According to the official records, the government has 4,032 acres of land in the district under its control. This land includes agricultural, non-agricultural and shamlat (village common land). Out of the total, 753 acre is illegally occupied.
Out of three blocks of Derabassi, Kharar and Majri, Derabassi has the highest amount of illegally possessed land in the district. Out of the total 753 acres of land which is illegally occupied, Derabassi has 703 acres, Majri block has 41 acres and Kharar block has 9 acres. As per an estimate, if one goes by the present rate of the land in the district then the occupied land is worth around Rs 2,000 crore.
An official of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department said that they had communicated the issue to the district administration and the minister had also directed the officials to get the land vacated. The meeting was held last month to discuss the status of the government land which is in illegal possession.
The official also said that the land was occupied by various means by the people. According to their modus operandi, many people take the agricultural land on an annual lease but in many cases either they do not vacate it for several years or the government gets late sometimes to hold the auction for leasing out the land. He added that illegal constructions had also come up on the shamlat land in many villages.
Talking to Chandigarh Newsline, Deputy Commissioner Tejinder Pal Singh Sidhu said that he had already directed the District Development and Panchayat Office to get the land vacated. The administration would take necessary action against the people who had encroached upon the government land.
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