1,000-acre village common land freed of encroachments in dist

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, June 29

Continuing its drive against encroachers and land sharks, the district administration has freed almost 1,000 acres of village common land of illegal occupations in various parts of Ludhiana during the past one year, officials have said.

While the possession of freed land worth minimum Rs 200 crore has been handed back to the village panchayats concerned, warrants have been issued to 145 land sharks to vacate another 475 acres of government land still under encroachments across the state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population, the administration has confirmed.

Figures at a glance

Total land area under encroachment: 1,475 acres

Freed: 1,000 acres

Yet to be vacated: 475 acres

Biggest chunk vacated: 215 acres each in Ludhiana 2, Sidhwan Bet

Land cost: Rs 200 crore (approx)

Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik told The Tribune, here, on Thursday that the district administration had intensified the special drive against the encroachments launched last year and a zero tolerance policy was being adopted towards illegal occupation of government land in the district.

“Following the directions of the state government, we have been able to free almost 70 per cent of the total encroached land in the district during the past one year while the remaining 30 per cent of the illegal occupations identified on the government land will be removed in the coming days,” she said, adding that several chunks of freed land had been under illegal occupation for decades.

Divulging the block-wise data of the government land that was under illegal occupations for the past several years and had now been vacated, District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) Navdeep Kaur said the biggest chunks of 215 acres each of village common land had been freed in Ludhiana 2 and Sidhwan Bet blocks followed by 105 acres in Khanna.

Among other blocks, over 101 acres of government land was vacated in Ludhiana 1 block, over 65 acres in Raikot, 55 acres in Maloud, 46 acres in Sudhar, 74 acres in Pakhowal, 22 acres in Doraha, 33 acres in Jagraon, 28 acres in Machhiwara, 34 acres in Samrala and over 7 acres of village common land was freed of encroachment in the Dehlon block of the district.

She said the vacated village common lands were being given on contract after following the due procedures and the income thereof would be credited to the accounts of the village panchayats cocerned, which will be spent for the development and other common purposes of the village concerned. “The process was underway to vacate all remaining government lands from encroachments in the district,” the DDPO added while issuing a stern warning against the illegal occupation of government lands.

She said the warrants had been issued to the encroachers to free over 299 acres from 50 land sharks in Ludhiana 2 block, 51 acres from 22 encroachers in Machhiwara, 12 acres from five illegal occupants in Raikot, 53 acres from 45 land sharks in Ludhiana 1, 40 acres from nine encroachers in Samrala, nine acres from an illegal occupant in Pakhowal, 3.1 acres from two land sharks in Jagraon, 1.2 acre from three encroachers in Doraha, 0.2 acre from two land sharks in Sudhar, 4.5 acres from illegal occupants in Sidhwan Bet and half acre from two encroachers in Maloud block.

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