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Encroachment on public land: Bathinda admn extends probe, suspects large scale land grabbing
The area in question is located near the defunct Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant on the Bathinda-Malout road, the prime location which is being developed by private and public sectors
Tipped by a preliminary investigation into a single complaint of encroachment on 11,000 yards of public land, the Bathinda district administration has extended a probe into possible largescale land grabbing on the city’s periphery.
The area in question is located near the defunct Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant on the Bathinda-Malout road, the prime location which is being developed by private and public sectors.
The authorities said the preliminary probe by the administration hints that a land worth ₹100 crore may have been grabbed by influential persons in connivance with the officials.
Sources said it is baffling that the authorities did not flag the encroachments as the public land was even registered illegally in the names of individuals.
Deputy commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray said a revenue record dating back to 1973 showed that around 50 bigha or 50,000 square yards belonged to government land and ordered a further probe.
“The map was worked out by an engineer of the state power agency and the revenue authorities. Redressing a case of unauthorised sale and purchase of land in the area, we got inputs that more land in the zone is in the possession of unauthorised persons,” added Parray.
District authorities suspected largescale irregularities in land sale and purchase while handling a complaint of land grabbing of 11,000 yards against a Bathinda-based private medical practitioner and another person.
Additional deputy commissioner (general) Poonam Singh, who is conducting a probe, said the doctor had purchased land from another person two years ago.
“Both the parties have been asked to produce ownership documents. The land is a prime public property and we are scrutinising documents of other land in the vicinity to identify the encroachments and freeing it from land grabbers,” she added.
DC Parray said the connivance of officials from the revenue and other departments is also under the scanner. “Investigation showed that a land grabber got the land registered in his name in 2016 and he sold it further to a doctor in 2022. On both the occasions of illegal sale and purchase, there was the same tehsildar in the office. An in-depth probe may throw more light on similar cases,” added the DC.
