Punjab Cong to oppose transfer of Panchayati land: Bajwa

Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa today said his party would oppose a proposed amendment bill in the Panchayati Raj Act, likely to be tabled in the coming session of Legislative Assembly, to allow transfer of Panchayati land to a private firm.
In a statement here, Bajwa said that this was another ploy of SAD-BJP government to grab village Panchayat lands and deprive them of their only source of income.
He said that 'Shamlat' or collective village land was the only asset of Panchayats which caters to their local needs.
Bajwa said that the state government had proposed to transfer five acres of land from each Panchayat to private company for solar energy generation.

Bajwa appealed to village Panchayats to oppose any such move and pass resolutions against transfer of their land to private firms.
He said that since there was no provision to hand over Shamlat land to private company, it is expected that an amendment would be moved in the Legislative Assembly.

The state Congress chief said that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had in 2007 cancelled an agreement signed with Reliance to build an Agro chain to boost crop diversification on the plea that Panchayati land could not be transferred.
Bajwa claimed that solar energy was still a costly alternative and not dependable for cluster use.

On one hand Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was claiming that Punjab would become power surplus state by the end of this year then what was the need to opt for a costly option, he asked.
Bajwa said earlier the state government had invited private companies to set up 'Adarsh Schools' on Panchayati land, claiming the experiment was a total failure.
"Most of the school managements had closed the schools and kept the land with them," he alleged.
Bajwa also flayed the SAD-BJP government for levying Rs 60,000 taxes on fish farms which were adopted by farmers as an alternative source of income.

He demanded to withdraw the tax and said that it would defeat the efforts by central government to encourage farmers for crop diversification.