Punjab govt orders audit of Panchayat land, revenue in last five years

Cracking the whip on land sharks in villages who have usurped Panchayat land and are pocketing the income instead of passing it to the village panchayats, state’s Panchayats and Rural Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa has sought a report from about 12,500 panchayats in Punjab about the income generated from shamlat land in the last five years and its utilisation. “I have reports that the land is usurped in many cases under the patronage of politicians. I have sought a report about the income in the next 10 days,” Bajwa told the Indian Express.

He said if an acre of agriculture land yielded an income of Rs 30,000. “Several villages have acres of land and panchayats should be self-reliant with such kind of land. Still, the previous government spent crores on villages. I am also seeking an account of how they spent grants under the previous government’s rural renewal mission,” Bajwa said.

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“I am told panchayats were flush with funds and yet seeking money from the government. Ever since I have ordered an inquiry into the urilisation of funds by panchayats, I have received umpteen calls to telling me that their village sarpanch had constructed multi-storyed houses in the last one year,” the minister said. Bajwa cited the example of Kalanaur village in Gurdaspur which had a shamlaat land of 1700 acres.

“It’s a huge chunk. The village should be making an amount of Rs 5 crore in a year after leasing it. We do not know where that money is going. I will get it checked.” Bajwa’s earlier orders of getting an audit of grants of Rs 1,700 crore released by the previous government to panchayats have sent the panic bells ringing for panchayats since the money was released in a jiffy ahead of elections and irregularities are suspected in its utilisation.