Panchayat land worth Rs 500-crore 'grabbed' by realtors in Mohali

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Services

Chandigarh, November 30

Panchayat land worth Rs 500 crore is allegedly lying in the possession of private real estate “sharks” in Mohali alone. A major portion of this land is with projects owned by AAP MLA from Mohali Kulwant Singh.

The government has failed to charge money from the developers.

According to a list prepared by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, 54 chunks of panchayat land in around 35 villages of Mohali district have been grabbed by real estate projects.

Around 80 acres of panchayat land, valued at around Rs 500 crore, has been grabbed by the developers in the district.

The land mainly pertains to paths and water channels, which once connected agriculture fields and were owned by panchayats.

As per the policy on mega projects, the land should have been acquired by the government for developers and the revenue generated from the acquired land should have gone to the panchayats. The money was to be utilised for the development of the villages concerned. However, the issue has been hanging fire for almost a decade and a half now.

The land is in the possession of mainly 20 companies. These include TDI, Preet Land Pvt Ltd, Wave Estates, Janta Land Promoters, Ansal API, Manohar Construction Company, Omaxe Chandigarh Extension Developers, Puma Realtors Pvt Ltd and Ansal Housing and Construction.

One of the main companies in the possession of panchayat land is Janta Land Promoters Ltd. Various projects of the company, owned by the AAP MLA from Mohali, Kulwant Singh, have around 15 acres of panchayat land in their possession.

Kulwant Singh said they were ready to deposit the amount and had also written to the department several times, but it had not responded. “It is not only a loss of revenue for the government but developers are also at the receiving end because they can’t develop their project completely.”

“In our projects, we have not sold a single inch of panchayat land. All revenue paths have been earmarked and left vacant,” he said.

All attempts to contact Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats Kuldeep Dhaliwal remained futile as he was busy at a meeting.

Besides Mohali, other districts where panchayat land is in the possession of real estate developers are Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Bathinda.

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