M A I N   N E W S

Punjab to transfer prime land
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 21
The Punjab Government has decided to transfer 1250 acres of prime land belonging to the Punjab Land Development and Reclamation Corporation Limited (PLDRCL) to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) free of cost. Earlier, the state was to transfer only 1000 acres out of a total of 2800 acres to PAU.

The 162 employees of the state farmers corporation who were transferred to the PLDRCL would also be transferred to the PAU. The PAU would start giving salaries to these employees after effecting the transfer of the land. Similarly, 1100 acres land of the corporation would be transferred to the Punjab State Industrial Export Corporation at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per acre. Fifty acres would be transferred to the Police Department at a meagre rate of Rs 1 lakh per acre.

The Police Department will not make cash payment to the corporation and it would be adjusted against the loan taken from the state by the PLDRCL. A decision to sell the remaining 400 acres would be taken later.

Thus reads an official letter of the state government addressed to the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana.

The letter reads that the 89 other employees of the corporation who would be rendered surplus, would be compensated from the state’s renewal fund. The state government has been directed to effect the transfer of the said land immediately.