GLADA lays claim to ‘private’ land

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 13

In a curious case of prime chunk of ‘private’ land with an estimated market value of over Rs 100 crore being shown in records as that having been acquired by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), the Lok Insaaf Party chief and legislator from Atam Nagar Simarjit Singh Bains has lodged a protest with the GLADA officials and termed it as the handiwork of a powerful land mafia which was hand in glove with certain officials.

At a meeting with GLADA Chief Administrator PS Gill and other officials, Bains produced relevant record of land, located in the vicinity of the Samrala bypass which was being shown as part of the land acquired by GLADA in the Jamalpur area long back. He alleged that at the behest of land mafia, this chunk of some 2,200 square yards, located in ‘tarf Saidan’ in revenue record, was now being shown as having been acquired in Jamalpur.

Estate Officer of GLADA Sonam Chaudhry, who was also present at the meeting, said Gill had marked an inquiry to the Additional Chief Administrator, who would go through the documents produced by the owner of the land as well as revenue record of the area to determine its ownership. “If warranted, the ACA might get the land demarcated again by revenue officials in the presence of the party claiming ownership of the land,” she said.

Later talking to The Tribune, Bains said land mafia, obviously enjoying patronage of the ruling party, had been indulging in such rackets where any chunk of prime land was either shown to have been already acquired (by GLADA of other departments) or proposed to be acquired in order to force the owners to dispose of the land at throwaway prices. He said he would expose the scammers and those behind this racket to save the people from falling prey to the land mafia and tainted officials.