Government land encroached in Payal’s Rajgarh

Rajgarh village in Payal, which comes between Doraha and Sahnewal has an unusual problem. As much as 850 acres of Government land has been encroached upon by the private players here for the last several decades. And the fight over the ownership still continues.

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Payal’s Sub Divisional Magistrate confirmed to The Tribune that the land belongs to government but remains illegally occupied by different private persons. The cases between these parties are either languishing in civil courts and some are even being litigated in the Punjab and Haryana Court.

As many as 40-50 Writ Petitions were filed in the High Court way back in 2004. A court order in 2012 disposed off all the writs with the direction to the private parties to declare their ownerships and file their responses.

At the same time, it was ordered by the Court that the possession will be with the private players till everything was cleared in the Civil Courts. “We are still presenting documents during the hearing of the cases”, said SDM Payal.

Locals say that the land in the Payal sub-division, which comprises 113 villages, is extremely fertile. “If you dig only 18-20 feet pit, you will get potable water, suitable for drinking unlike other villages in Ludhiana where you get polluted water at significant depths”, Satnam Singh, a local resident told this reporter.

One of the villagers, Jarnail Singh said villagers had constructed their homes and few had been doing business on the disputed land for decades. While the government claims they own the land, these villagers refute this. "The fight for ownership has been going on for over two decades. There is no end in sight," he said.

A senior leader of SAD, Maheshinder Singh Grewal said that the dispute should be resolved at the earliest, as not only the litigation cost is high for villagers, but a proverbial Damocles sword is hanging over their heads till the ownership is decided.