India News | Punjab Govt Says It Freed 29 Acres of Encroached Land; Earns Praise from Sidhu

Chandigarh, Apr 28 (PTI) The Punjab government on Thursday said it freed 29 acres of encroached land in Mohali, earning praise from opposition party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu.

The department of rural development and panchayats said the land in Abhipur village had been encroached by one Bikram Singh since 2007.

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The officials concerned took the possession of the panchayat land in the presence of Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal, the government said in a release.

Though the Mohali collector had issued an order to remove the encroachment in 2014, the panchayats department said it could not take possession of the land due to “trivial legal hurdles”.

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Meanwhile, former Punjab Congress chief Sidhu hailed Dhaliwal over the move.

“My accolades to Panchayat Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal ji on reclaiming 29 Acres of Punjab's land in Siswan Village... This is the way forward for Punjab… Hope this 29 will turn into 29000 soon… Even seize the properties of the illegal & corrupt occupants, no matter who they are…,” Sidhu tweeted.

Dhaliwal informed that following directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, he set the officials a target to vacate illegal encroachments from 5,000 acres of panchayat land by May 31 under a special drive in the first phase.

He said the state government was committed to removing all such encroachments and those parcels of land would be handed over back to the panchayats.

(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)