Bathinda, October 23
Naseebpura village, also known as Kailey Vandar, near Talwandi Sabo town, and khasra No. 2467 in the heart of Bathinda city are prime examples of how shamlat land (common village land) has been illegally occupied and fraudulently registered in this district.

Not only have big chunks of land in the urban area been illegally occupied but their records have also been manipulated, with some having “shared owners”, for registration.

Of the 297 gram panchayats in this district, official records suggest that at least 92 acres of the panchayat land is under illegal occupation in the rural area. Of that, 85 acres is located in Naseebpura village alone.

Khasra No. 2467 stands apart as it contains 11.78 acres of urban land, most of which has been illegally occupied. Several houses, a bank and financial institutions apart from parts of a college have come up illegally on the land, whose market value is pegged at Rs 200 crore.

The land was originally part of Mehna village, also known as Mehna Patti, in the revenue records, but it gradually came under the city limits.

While rules say shamlat land cannot be sold, sellers and buyers conspired to get a house number allotted by the municipal corporation. The number was awarded for the purpose of house tax but many got hold of the registration of the property and sold it off further. The corporation got back the ownership of the land in September, 2010 through a notification.

The old records show a large pond occupying most of the land. The pond is now restricted to a few acres.

On record, the corporation claims it had spent lakhs of rupees to raise a boundary wall around the pond to save it from further encroachment.

The wall is now broken and houses have come up on a vast stretch. Occupation, registration and construction have been blatant under alleged political patronage. Last month, District Magistrate KK Yadav imposed a ban on registration of all property on the basis of house tax numbers following complaints and media reports.

Yadav told The Tribune that the ban had been imposed as the shamlat land could not be sold using house tax numbers.

“The MC sent me a report pointing out certain fake entries in the documents. I ordered the ban,” he said.

The land of Bibi Wala village, spread along the 100-ft Barnala road, has been encroached upon similarly.

A gym and a godown used by a liquor contractor stand on the piece of land. The godown was never razed despite orders.

Data available with the District Development and Panchayat Office here reveals that 18 cases have been filed this year regarding illegal occupation. Eight of these are from Naseebpura village. Similar encroachment has been reported in Mahi and Mal Kanal villages of the district.

Kailey Vandar village is also known for having high number of simians. The population of monkeys is so huge that the village attracts people from Bathinda for rituals associated with monkeys.

District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) Rajinder Batra said all cases from Naseebpura were filed in July. The Block Development and Panchayat Officer had found out the illegal occupation that was not reported earlier, he said.

“The illegal occupation of village panchayat land had been going on for years. We have started the process of eviction,” he said.

Eviction seems to be an uphill task. Sarpanch Gurtej Singh said the occupants had been tilling the land for four decades. “I am 39 and most of the village land has been under illegal occupation even before I was born. How can they leave the land that has become the source of bread and butter for many?”

“The alleged illegal occupants belong to all political parties,” the sarpanch insisted.

The DDPO said his office used eviction as the last resort. “First we try to counsel the illegal occupants to leave the piece of land. If that fails, we ask them to pay the charges for leasing out the land and offer to lease it further. That helps bring the matter on record. If everything fails, we go for eviction.” On an average 10-12 cases were filed by them every year, he added. “More cases were reported this year perhaps because of the panchayat elections.”