203 acres of govt land freed from encroachments

Hoshiarpur, November 15

In presence of Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar on Wednesday, the Panchayati Raj Department reclaimed 203 acres of encroached panchayat land at Bhambotar village in Talwara block of Hoshiarpur district.

While addressing mediamen at the village community centre, the minister said 252 acres of panchayat land across four villages had been encroached upon out of which 203 acres were voluntarily vacated by village panchayats and farmers.

He said some people had constructed houses on the remaining land. Assuring a forthcoming policy to resolve such encroachment issues, he vowed to prevent any inconvenience to people.

He said the reclaimed land would be utilised for planting khair and teak trees. These trees would be harvested after taking approval from the department concerned and the amount received would be deposited in the state exchequer. The minister said around 13,000 acres of panchayat land had been freed from encroachments across the state.

He said the department was making efforts to resolve court cases in order to get the remaining encroached panchayat land vacated.