Nod to amend law for 'Right of Way' for underground irrigation

The Punjab cabinet today gave a nod to an amendment to the existing law to grant 'Right of Way' to farmers to lay underground irrigation pipelines through land of other holders.
The cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, approved the incorporation of a new Section 14-A in Chapter III as an amendment in the Punjab Land Improvement Schemes Act 1963 (Act no.23 of 1963).
An official spokesperson said the amendment would give the 'Right of Way' to the Soil and Water Conservation Department and the farmers against payment, as per prevailing market rates, of compensation on account of crop damage or damage to any structure.

The move will enable the department or farmers concerned to lay underground irrigation pipelines in other land holders' land at a depth of three feet beneath the surface of land as per demarcated line.
The amendment was necessitated because the land holders or entities/agencies holding land often do not allow the underground pipeline to pass through their land, thus depriving the farmer, with land located on the other side, of the much-needed irrigation facilities, the spokesperson said.
Farmers with a single source of irrigation and fragmented agricultural land holdings were the worst affected due to the existing lacunae in the law, he added.

The absence of legal rights on this count was also holding up several government-funded projects.

To ensure implementation of the scheme, a district-level committee under the deputy commissioner and representatives from revenue, agriculture, forest, public works and soil conservation departments would be formed.
The proposed committee would be entrusted with the task of determining the amount of compensation to be paid to the land holder.
Laying of underground pipelines for irrigation is the most effective way for efficient use of water resources in the state and the state soil and water conservation department is already promoting this activity in a big way, the spokesperson said.

The Rajasthan government had, in 2010, also incorporated a similar amendment in the Rajasthan Land Tenancy Act.
Meanwhile, the cabinet also gave its ex-post facto approval to amendments in building rules to provide one-time settlement of non-compoundable violations.
The cabinet decided to bring 'The Punjab One Time Voluntary Disclosure and Settlement of Violations of the Buildings Ordinance, 2017' for all unauthorised constructions which have come up till September 30, 2017.
The One Time Settlement scheme will be applicable to non-compoundable violations in the buildings constructed in partly contravention of the Building Byelaws in the municipal areas, the spokesperson said.
He said the move was necessitated by the fact that there were a large number of unauthorised buildings where the building plans had not been approved.

Most of the violations are non-compoundable, preventing regularisation of buildings under the existing provisions. It was, however, not feasible or desirable to demolish such buildings, most of which had come over the past many years, the spokesperson said.
The government, thus, took a conscientious decision to regularise these buildings, provided the owners comply with the requisite fire and safety standards, he said.
The cabinet also gave ex-post facto approval to the amendments in "The Punjab Town Improvement (Utilisation of Land and Allotment of Plots) Rules, 1983" with particular reference to reduction in 'reserve sale price' from 10 per cent to 7 per cent of the properties of Improvement Trusts in the state to be sold by way of an 'open auction'.

There are, at present, 28 Improvement Trusts carrying out the work of urban planning and improvement in Punjab. The properties of these trusts are sold through open auction, the spokesperson said.
Over the time, the real estate market price has come down in the state, which has increased the gap between reserve sale price and market price.
To rationalise the reserve sale price vis--vis market price, the department of Local Government carried out amendments in the Punjab Town Improvement (Utilization of Land & Allotment of Plots) Rules, 1983 on June 30, 2016.
In order to facilitate the Improvement Trust auction and to attract the bidders, the aforesaid amendment had to be ratified by the cabinet, the spokesperson added.