Panchayat Minister vacates 100 acres encroached govt land worth Rs 40 crores in Khanna

Khanna (Ludhiana): Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar on Tuesday successfully reclaimed illegally encroached 100 acres of land worth Rs 40 crores in Issru village falling under Khanna sub-division of the district.

Interacting with the media persons after taking the possession back of encroached land, Laljit Singh Bhullar stated that the market value of this land was nearly Rs.40 crore. He said that as many as 54 persons of seven families had illegally encroached on this chunk of land. He said that the village panchayat had filed the case against these persons in DDPO court on May 30, 2022 and on June 21, 2022, the DDPO court ordered in favour of the village panchayat. On June 27, 2022 DDPO court issued warrants to get the land freed from encroachera. Later, the occupants also approached Punjab and Haryana High Court and ordered JDC (Rural Development) to decide the case within four weeks. He said that on April 11,2023, JDC finally ordered the village panchayat as owner of the land.

The Minister said that the possession of nearly 12500 acres of land was already taken in the possession throughout Punjab since last year. He further mentioned that this year, the department had already expedited the process to settle the remaining cases and ensure speedy release of remaining encroached land in the Punjab. He said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had already announced that the state government was committed to freeing the every land from illegal encroachments. He also urged the people of the state to come forward and voluntarily vacate encroached government land so that the revenue collected from this land can be utilized for the development of the state.

Bhullar said that CM had already given warning to the people who are illegally occupying government or panchayat land to face action if they do not surrender the land. He said that no person involved in encroaching government land, despite their influence will be spared.

The Minister was also accorded guard of honour in Khanna rest house.