M A I N   N E W S

CM’s Industrial Adviser among ‘encroachers’ of Punjab irrigation land
Charanjit Bhullar

Bathinda, November 5
Around 1,100 acres of prime government land belonging to the Punjab Irrigation Department has allegedly been encroached upon by various influential persons, including political leaders and industrialists.

A list submitted by the Irrigation Department to the Punjab Urban Development Agency (PUDA) has, among others, Kamal Oswal, who is the Industrial Adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister, as alleged enroachers.

His firm Oswal Woollen Mills is in alleged possession of 1.10 acres of land in Ludhiana, which is valued at Rs 10 crore. Despite the case having been decided in favour of the Irrigation Department on March 24, 1998, under the Punjab Public Premises Act by an administrative court of the Ludhiana administration, the possession of the land could not be secured due to construction on it. The Irrigation Department has written to the Punjab Revenue Department for the possession of the land but to no avail. The government report suggests that under the Sidhwan Irrigation Department division, 1.35 acres at Dabha village has been encroached upon, of which 1.10 acres is under Oswal Woollen Mills and 0.25 acres is under M/s Mazeen. The entire land of the village falls under the urban land category.

Oswal claimed his company had not illegally occupied the land where his factory had been running for the past 60 years. He alleged that the irrigation department’s record was faulty. Sidhwan division’s Superintending Engineer Tilak Raj Chauhan said the department had now filed a case in the court of Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, to get back the possession of the land. DCs have judicial powers under the PP Act.

Chief Engineer (Irrigation), Punjab, Amarjit Singh Dullat said under the government policy, the land under occupation had to be auctioned. He said the Oswal group could make a bid for it while competing at the market price. Dullat said surplus properties were being disposed of by removing encroachments. He said 1,100 acres were under encroachment in the state of which most of the land lay in rural pockets. He added many properties had been auctioned off but as the allottees failed to make payments, the allotments had been cancelled.

The records say 234 properties of irrigation department lie encroached. Most encroachers are political bigwigs.

Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya’s brother Munsha Singh has allegedly encroached upon 3 acres of the irrigation department rest house at Ghubaya village in Jalalabad, the constituency of Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal. The market price of the land is around Rs 1 crore.

Munsha Singh said the land had been under his possession for the past many years and that he had bought the rest house under auction. The allotment was later cancelled by the government. He said he was ready to pay the remaining installments. Also, 4.93 acres of the rest house had been encroached upon at Mohan Ke village under the Eastern Irrigation Division. The case is pending in the Punjab and Haryana HC. Various irrigation department rest houses, including Moga’s Irrigation Rest House and Amritsar’s Duburji Rest House, were under illegal possession of the Punjab Police.

The list

• Industrial Adviser to the Punjab CM Kamal Oswal figures on a list of alleged encroachers submitted by the Irrigation Department to the Punjab Urban Development Agency.
• His firm Oswal Woollen Mills is in alleged possession of 1.10 acres of land in Ludhiana, which is valued at Rs 10 crore.
• Around 1,100 acres of prime government land belonging to the Irrigation Department has allegedly been encroached upon.