Pb: Govt land being farmed on for 20 years to be allotted to

The Punjab Assembly in a special session today passed a Bill to allot at reasonable prices the government land to persons who are occupying and farming on it for the last 20 years.
The special session, which the Opposition had alleged was to woo voters by pushing various Bills, comes ahead of the high-stake Punjab Assembly polls slated for next year.
The Punjab Allotment of State Government Land Bill, 2016, was moved by Punjab Minister Sikandar Singh Malooka to provide for the allotment of government land to persons who are in possession of it and cultivating it for the last 20 years.

According to the financial memorandum of the Bill, a large number of agricultural land belonging to the state government, often termed provincial government lands, are in possession of various persons for cultivation.
These lands are leased out on a year-to-year basis through open auction. However, a number of disputes arise when the possession changes at the end of the "agricultural year", the memorandum said.
"To avoid such disputes and also as a measure of agrarian reform, the Bill was presented to confer proprietary rights at reasonable rates to persons, who either by themselves or their lineal descendants, have been cultivating it for 20 years or more," it said.

However, the memorandum pointed out that the actual number of persons to whom the land will be allotted cannot be foreseen.
Similarly, any financial loss to the government cannot be assessed because it is not possible to determine as to how many persons will actual apply for the allotment of land under the proposed Act, it said.