Will free panchayat land of encroachers: Ajnala MLA Kuldeep Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Chandigarh, April 22

A preliminary report on the alleged illegal occupation of panchayat land by high-ups, including top politicians, is ready and the process for getting the government property vacated begins on Monday, says the first-time Aam Admi Party (AAP) MLA from Ajnala (Amritsar), Kuldeep Dhaliwal.

Water for all villages

We have started the work to ensure quality drinking water in all villages. We are identifying villages not getting good quality water or irregular supply. — Kuldeep Dhaliwal, Ajnala MLA

The Minister for Rural Development and Panchayats, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development in the Bhagwant Mann Cabinet, Dhaliwal says: “We have called a meeting of the department with the panchayat officers on Monday to initiate the process of an action plan for getting back the ‘shamlat’ land.”

Dhaliwal defeated Amarpal Singh Bonny of the SAD and Harpratap Singh of the Congress. He has been closely associated with the Left wing politics since his student days. He was an active member of the Punjab students’ union during his college days.

“While the exact details of illegal occupation are being compiled, rough estimates indicated that at least 50,000 acres of panchayati land is under illegal occupation. The list includes top politicians, including MLAs, in the state.”

“Villages are the soul of Punjab and previous governments have blatantly overlooked the quality of projects in the rural areas. There are hundreds of cases of faulty design, poor quality material and careless execution of works in streets, sewers, water taps, ponds and panchayat ghars. We have identified more than 400 villages, where the funds for rural development have been allocated for unrelated purposes. We will get the money back and work in all panchaytas will be audited.”

“We are demanding Rs 500 crore from the Cenrtre to address the problem of the stray cattle menace in the state. The state has 1.45 lakh stray cattle on the state roads. We need the money for building special sheds and green fodder.”

“I have asked officials concerned to come up with an NRI policy, which will be taken up in the Vidhan Sabha for quick action. We will have our brothers from foreign lands to participate in our endeavours for realising out common dream of a rangla (vibrant) Punjab,” Dhaliwal said.

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