Prime land of LIT remains under encroachment for four decades

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, July 19

On the one hand, the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) is making all efforts to raise its land and property to generate much-needed revenue for ongoing projects and those to be taken in hand in future, while on the other, several properties and chunks of prime land were under encroachment for not only years but decades without any apparent action on part of the officials concerned to remove unlawful occupants.

In a complaint to the LIT Chairman and senior officials of the Local Government Department, Punjab, a city-based RTI activist, Kuldeep Singh Khaira, has alleged that around 1,331 square yards of the prime land adjoining D-Block in the Model Town Extension scheme was under encroachment by certain persons for the past about 40 years.

“Despite the matter having been brought to the notice of LIT officials by many persons and organisations in the past and also by the Municipal Corporation — to which the LIT colony has been transferred for maintenance – no action has been taken towards the same till now,” Khaira said.

As per the complaint, the said land was shown under the ownership of the LIT in the jamabandi for 1980-81 but thereafter some politically connected persons had allegedly manipulated the revenue records and got bogus sale deeds registered in their names to take possession of the government land.

“Responding to my complaint lodged with the MC, the then Senior Town Planner of the MC had written an office memo (dated June 13, 2017) to the LIT Executive Officer about this land being under encroachment while as per the revenue records, the ownership of this land lied with the Trust. The STP had asked the LIT to clear encroachments and take possession of the land, which was a valuable saleable property, as per standing instructions of the state government,” Khaira added in his complaint. Charging certain LIT officials and employees being in collusion with the unlawful occupants, the complainant urged the authorities to remove encroachments from the land which could bring in much- needed funds. At the same time, those in league with the encroachers be identified and proceeded against as per service rules for causing loss of revenue to the exchequer.

LIT officials said they were looking into revenue records and a physical inspection of the land under question had also been ordered.

“Appropriate action, as per rules, would be taken if any encroachments are found on the Trust land,” they added.

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