Land scam: Ferozepur DC seeks action against officials

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, February 25

Deputy Commissioner Ramvir has asked the state government to take strict action against 12 revenue officials for alleged misappropriation of funds and causing loss to the exchequer to the tune of several crores of rupees during the acquisition of land for the construction of NH-15 (Amritsar-Bathinda highway).

The erring officials include a former SDM, a tehsildar, two naib tehsildars, three kanungos and five patwaris. Ramvir said action had been recommended after an inquiry conducted by Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Vineet Kumar.

Sources in the DC’s office said the matter had been referred to the Vigilance Bureau by the government.

In his report, the ADC had highlighted discrepancies during land acquisition in Zira subdivision, including payment to deceased landowners, erroneous calculations of the payable amount, change in the type of land from agricultural to commercial, variation in payment to owners with the same share in the landholding, and payment to farmers whose land had been acquired earlier.

The Deputy Commissioner said the Zira SDM had been directed to recover the excess payment made to some of the landowners in the villages of Khadoor, Maujgarh and Sihapari against acquisition of their land.

Sources stated that at Khadoor village, landowners were paid around Rs 2.45 crore for land that had been acquired earlier. The previous mutation had not been executed.

When contacted, a PWD official said the mutation was supposed to be executed by the land acquisition collector, Jalandhar. At Sihapari village, the farmers were paid an additional Rs 1.45 crore by passing off agricultural land as commercial. The inquiry found that landowners were given payments without checking their proof of identity.

The DC said the Director, Rural Development and Panchayats, had been asked to take action against sarpanches Navjot Singh (Khadoor) and Harpreet Kaur (Gatti Harike) for allegedly being hand in glove with the revenue officials.

The Deputy Commissioner has also written to the Secretary (Personnel) for initiating proceedings against PCS officer Jarnail Singh, who was posted at Zira as the SDM when the scam took place, but retired later. The matter has been taken up with the ACS (Revenue) and Commissioner, Ferozepur Division, for taking action against tehsildar Beant Singh and naib tehsildars Joginder Pal and Surinder Pal.

Role of 2 sarpanches under scanner 

• Deputy Commissioner Ramvir said the Director, Rural Development and Panchayats, had been asked to take action against sarpanches Navjot Singh (Khadoor) and Harpreet Kaur (Gatti Harike) for allegedly being hand in glove with the revenue officials. 
• The DC has also written to the Secretary (Personnel) for initiating proceedings against PCS officer Jarnail Singh, who was posted at Zira as the SDM when the scam took place, but retired later.