Shamlat land cannot be transferred or sold to anyone at any cost: Bains

The Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), led by Ludhiana member legislative assembly (MLA) Simarjeet Singh Bains, along with farmer associations will hold a protest march against the state government on January 4. The protest is against the state’s decision to handover shamlat (common) land in villages to industrialists for industrial development.

LIP chief Simarjeet Singh Bains, who was in Patiala on Wednesday, said his party will hold protest against the state government’s move on January 4.(HT PHOTO)

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Bains, who was accompanied by panchayats of multiple villages in Patiala district, condemned the government’s move. He claimed that it mulls the rights of Dalits and underprivileged people in villages.

The Punjab cabinet gave an in-principle approval to amend the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) Rules, 1964, to create land banks in rural areas in order to boost industrial development in state.

The cabinet had cleared the proposal of the rural development and panchayats department regarding insertion of Rule 12-B in the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, to provide special provision for transferring common land for development of industrial infrastructure, to be implemented by the industries department and the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC).

Bains said that as per the common land Act, the shamlat land cannot be sold and transferred to anyone at any cost.

“Moreover, the land does not come under habitation and is considered consolidated land for common use, especially for Dalits residing in villages,” Bains said.

He said that they will protest against the “illogical” decision in six villages of Rajpura subdivision, where the state government is planning to give over 1,000 acre to a Japanese company.

“Instead of providing employment resources, the state is hell-bent on displacing villagers with such draconian amendments,” Bains said. The protest march will be started from Khanna’s Bhamadi village and will culminate at Sehra village in Rajpura subdivision.

Bains said that if the state government wants to acquire land, it should do so through the Land Acquisition Act, 2003, and pay private land owners accordingly. Panchayats of Sehra, Sehri, Akar, Akari, Pawra and Takhtumajra villages are already protesting the state’s move. They had staged protests on December 5, when an eight-member Japanese delegation had visited their villages to take stock of the land holdings.

Bains appealed to panchayats to not to pass any resolution regarding transferring of shamlat land under their respective jurisdictions.