Proposed Malwa canal project caught in land ownership tangle

Balwant Garg

Faridkot, March 13

The state government’s move to construct Malwa canal along the Rajasthan Feeder Canal on unutilised land in Ferozepur, Faridkot and Muktsar district is facing a big challenge.

When the Irrigation Department started the process to identify land for the 72-foot wide and 170-km long canal, it had found that the ownership of the land, acquired by the Rajasthan Government, was not changed in the revenue record. It still exists with the farmers who sold it to Rajasthan.

In 1950s, the Rajasthan Government had purchased over two lakh acres of agricultural land in south-west Punjab for the construction of the Rajasthan Feeder Canal. While about 65,000 acre is used to construct the canal, the remaining 1.35 lakh acre is lying unused.

Now, the state government had plan to use this land to construct Malwa canal and the Rajasthan had given its approval to the state government to use it, but in the revenue record in Faridkot, the land still exists in the name of the farmers, who had sold it to the Rajasthan in 1950s.

While the Irrigation Department has asked the Revenue Department in Faridkot to make the entries in the mutation register of the revenue record and change the ownership of this land in the name of the state Irrigation Department, revenue officials here are facing difficulty making mutation in the absence of revenue record of this land.

The Irrigation Department had demanded about 72 feet wide strip of land along the Rajasthan canal, starting from Hari Ke Barrage in Ferozepur to Warring Khera in Malout, to construct about 170-km long Malwa canal.

For not changing the ownership of this land in the revenue record in these years, there were many cases of cheating in this area when many persons allegedly sold this land as per the revenue record.

A criminal case was registered against a retired IAS officer who had allegedly sold a portion of this land situated on the Kotkapura-Talwandi bypass in Faridkot to some property dealers in connivance with some revenue officials in January 2010 as the name of the bureaucrat was existing in the ownership column of revenue record.

Rajasthan bought land from Farmers in 1950s, but Mutation yet to be carried out

• In 1950s, the Rajasthan Government had purchased over two lakh acres of agricultural land in south-west Punjab for the construction of the Rajasthan Feeder Canal. While about 65,000 acre is used to construct the canal, the remaining 1.35 lakh acre is lying unused
• Now, the state government had plan to use this land to construct Malwa canal and the Rajasthan had given its approval to the state government to use it, but in the revenue record in Faridkot, the land still exists in the name of the farmers, who had sold it to the Rajasthan in 1950s