Greater ludhiana area development authority(GLADA) on Thursday removed encroachments from hundreds of acres of land in Sekhowal, Salempur, Selkiana, Haider Nagar, Garcha, and Garhi Fazil in the Koomkalan area of the district.
The officials said that the action was taken on the orders of the government as the land was proposed for setting up a mega textile park under PM Mitra Scheme.
Officials of GLADA and the revenue department reached the spot with police force to clear the encroachments.
Officials said that proper public announcements were ensured before the action. He said that most encroachments include shanties, and boundary walls on the land. Fencing was also done around the reclaimed lands.
He said that GLADA was also planning more demolition drives in upcoming weeks and appealed to the general public not to purchase property in unauthorized colonies as GLADA will not provide any facilities like water supply, sewerage, electricity connections, street lights, etc.
Civil society group cries foul
{{/usCountry}}Civil society group cries foul
{{/usCountry}}Members of the civil society group, Public Action Committee, who had earlier highlighted the issue of encroachments in the environmentally sensitive area and had announced a protest outside GLADA on the same issue raised questions over the exercise.
Jaskirat Singh, a member, said that the issue of 500 acres of government-owned land which earlier used to host a research farm is different from the 416 acres of land of Sekhowal village which earlier belonged to panchayat of the village. He added that the issue should not be mixed, as the villagers had been assured that land would be returned to the panchayat.
When contacted, GLADA additional chief administrator Amarjit Singh Bains said that the exercise was fair as currently both chunks of land are owned by the government.