Punjab Rural Development & Panchayats Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal yesterday reiterated his government’s firm commitment to getting the Government lands free from illegal possessions regardless of any person, howsoever influential he may be.
The cabinet minister stated this while interacting with media persons after the illegal occupation of 195 acres 7 kanal 3 marla land in villages of Talwandi Nauabad, Walipur Khurd, and Walipur Kalan in Sidhwan Bet area of district Ludhiana.
He was also accompanied by MLAs Sarvjit Kaur Manuke and Hardeep Singh Mundian, Senior AAP leaders Amandeep Singh Mohie, Dr. KNS Kang, ADC (Rural Development) Amit Kumar Panchal, DDPO Sanjeev Kumar, besides several others.
He also appreciated the efforts of District Administration Ludhiana, where a total of 424 acres (including today’s 195 acre 7 kanal 3 marla) of government land has been freed from illegal occupation to date.
The Minister also revealed that the Rural Development & Panchayats Department had freed around 2750 acres of land across the state so far and by the end of this month, around 3000 acres would be freed from illegal occupation and by June, around 5000 acres would be freed.
He said that possession of land taken today includes 86 acres 7 Kanal 15 marla land at village Talwandi Nauabad, 65 acres 5 kanal 5 marla land at Walipur Khurd, and 43 acres 2 kanal 3 marla land at Walipur Kalan
Lashing out at previous governments of both Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress for not taking any concrete steps against such illegal activities, the Minister said that now the Aam Aadmi Party Government would expedite the ongoing drive against encroachments in the coming days. He said this would only be ensured by a strong ‘political will’ which the Aam Aadmi Party had already implemented.
He also appealed to people to voluntarily vacate government lands in their possession else strict action would be taken against them.