Punjab to evict encroachers from shamlat land

Drawing flak from various quarters for failing to take action against encroachers, especially VIPs and other influential people, for large-scale encroachment, the Punjab government Tuesday said it would dispossess all encroachers from shamlat or village common land.

Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minster Surjit Singh Rakhra said the Punjab government has initiated a drive to remove encroachers from the shamlat land.

"All deputy commissioners (DCs) have been directed to hold monthly meetings to scrap all such under the carpet deals and dispose off such pending cases of land encroachment. The officers of the rural development and panchayats department would assist the DCs to free the government land from miscreants," Rakhra said in a statement here.

He said the DCs have also been instructed to implement the land possession warrant within a stipulated time frame to divest encroachers from illegal possession of common land.

A committee headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice Kuldip Singh, in its interim report on the subject of land deals in Punjab, pointed to large-scale encroachment of shamlat land by people, especially powerful VIPs and influential persons. The committee was appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.