Chandigarh, Oct 13 (PTI) Punjab minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Thursday said his government has identified over 26,000 acres of illegally occupied common village land, which will be freed and handed over to panchayats.

The state's rural development and panchayat minister said in a statement that they had launched a special drive to identify such shamlat (common) village land.

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The government identified 26,300 acres of cultivable panchayat land worth around Rs 92,000, he said, adding that it will be recovered and handed over to panchayats.

The minister said a special cell was set up by the department to run the campaign effectively and they are thoroughly examining all revenue records.

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So far, they have compared records of 86 of 153 blocks to identify such land, Dhaliwal said.

Terming it a great achievement of the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government, the minister said previous governments did not bother to identify or take care of the common village land.

Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said officials of the department have been directed to complete the identification of such land in the remaining blocks by December 2023.

The records of the shamlat land are being uploaded on the website of the department, the minister said stressing that earlier 9,126 acres were freed from illegal occupants.

Following an appeal from the chief minister, people have also come forward willingly and handed over 3,435 acres to village panchayats, he said.

Dhaliwal said the recovered land will be used for development works by panchayats. The cultivable land will be given on annual lease while the non-cultivable one will be used to increase the green cover, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)