The State Government under Dogra rule had raised landed properties at many places in the country and had also raised some structures as per its needs. These properties are sited in prominent cites of Delhi, Amritsar, Mumbai and Punjab.
Large chunks of these lands were encroached upon and illegally occupied by various land grabbers. The Government has revealed in the Legislative Assembly that about 1379 kanals of State land worth hundreds of crores has been illegally occupied by some people at Delhi, Sirsa in Haryana, Mumbai and Amritsar.
Amusingly ever House Committees were constituted by both Houses of the legislature from time to time to examine the subject and submit their report on the status of these properties. The Committees paid visits to many places including Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Delhi on public exchequer expenses but they have failed to submit reports. Even the Chairman of the Upper House was upset on knowing that the visits were paid for by the State exchequer but reports are nowhere in sight. This leads one to the doubt there are vested interests at work and they are obstructing the eviction or any serious action against the illegal occupation. The members of the Assembly wanted the Government to disclose the names of persons or agencies in illegal possession of these properties or thenames of persons who had made encroachments but the Government was unwilling to disclose the names. This makes the matter more suspicious and gives credence to the wild allegations that are made from different quarters. Minister of Education who was answering questions on behalf of the Chief Minister said that it was not proper to disclose the names because this was a 70-year old matter and disclosing the names would not help. However, he went on to say that about 96 kanals land at Raja Ji Marg in Delhi was under the occupation of Army and 1 kanal 11 marla under CPWD. The case has been taken up with the concerned authorities. He also disclosed that 32 kanals 9 marla land at Tapai Road in Amritsar was encroached upon. TheState has won the case in court but the area is yet to be acquired and taken control of.
Well these steps have been taken by the Government but the matter is moving at snail’s speed. The Government should expedite the matter because it is a case of crores of rupees worth property. In fact it would bein fitness of things if a committee is constituted with the terms of reference of finding out full story about all the properties outside the State and handle the process of retrieving them either through negotiations or through legal process whatever possible. Government seems to be doing half-hearted exercise which may not lead to any satisfactory result.
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