Over 40,000 acres of village land under encroachment

Jasneet Bindra: Fri Oct 29 2010,

Punjab rural development and panchayat director told to probe illegal sale of land, pond by former sarpanch

Over 40,000 acres of panchayat land is under illegal occupation, and the figure is increasing every year in almost all districts. The admission was made by the office of the director of rural development and panchayats department in reply to an application filed by a Hoshiarpur villager under the Right to Information Act.

Hoshiarpur topped the list with over 9,343 acres under encroachment, followed by Patiala, with 8,083 acres illegally occupied, and Mohali, where the figure stood at 7,565 acres. The minimum encroachment (4 acres) was reported in Faridkot.

The report on illegal occupation till August last year was submitted in the Punjab State Information Commission, after Apar Singh Ghuman, a resident of Khera Kotli village in Hoshiarpur, filed a complaint against the rural development and panchayats office for denying him complete information. The government department admitted that the encroachment figure had increased in most districts in the last over three years, with little improvement in Bathinda, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Barnala and Mansa.

Ghuman, who reportedly also sought data from district offices, was not satisfied with the information provided to him, and listed certain anomalies before State Information Commissioner Surinder Singh. He said there was a difference in the figures supplied by the district development officers of Gurdaspur and Muktsar districts. He also made similar written observations about Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Mohali and Kapurthala, a copy of which was handed over to the respondent, too.

When questioned by the commissioner, over telephone, Deputy Director, Land Development, J P Singla said he was in the High Court in connection with some other case and would submit his written reply on the next date of hearing.

In another such case, the SIC ordered a probe into encroachment and unauthorised sale of panchayat land. The case was filed by Avtar Singh, a resident of Siau village in Mohali, who had sought copies of the resolutions passed by the panchayat during the tenure of former sarpanch Karam Singh regarding a particular land plan. On not getting information, he filed a complaint with the commission in September this year.

He alleged that Karam Singh had encroached upon the land, and sold it — along with the village pond — to his brother. The SIC directed Kharar Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) Balwinder Singh to attend the next hearing along with the original records and asked the director of rural development and panchayats department to get an inquiry conducted and submit his report within two months.