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Paddy season: Punjab govt temporarily suspends takeover of illegally occupied ‘shamlat’ land
If the land is evicted, panchayats dept will have to deposit cost of the standing paddy crop in advance with the revenue department
Chandigarh : The Punjab rural development and panchayats department has temporarily suspended drive to evict illegally occupied “shamlat” (village common land) owing to paddy sown over most the land listed for the takeover.
“If the department takes the possession of the land right now, it will have to deposit the cost of the standing crop in advance with the state’s revenue department,” said a panchayats department official. Besides, he said, if a farmer moves a court and the verdict comes in his favour, the department will have to compensate the cultivator for the crop loss, added the official, who didn’t wished to be named.
Since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government took over the reins, the department has taken possession of at least 5,700 acres of common village land, and 10,000 acres are yet to be evicted, said an official.
Paddy has been sown over 29-30 lakh hectares (71 to 73 lakh acres) of land this kharif season in Punjab and 95% of sowing is complete. The harvesting will start in mid-October and will continue for 30-40 days depending on the sowing time and duration of the variety.
In the first phase, big chunks of land (10 to 40 acres) were evicted from illegal possession. “The second phase will start after the paddy harvesting is over in November-December,” said the official.
The government’s move to evict common land had invited sharp criticism by a section of politicians as they alleged that even small farmers were not spared. The issue also rocked the Vidhan Sabha during the budget session that concluded on June 30, during which rural development and panchayats minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal assured that small and marginal farmers will not be asked to evict the “shamlat” land.
According to the rural department records, there is approximately 1.55 lakh acre of “shamlat” land in 13,247 panchayats across Punjab. “To assess the exact figures, the government has created a ‘shamlat cell’ to ascertain how much land falls under common land pool and how much have been illegal occupied. The data has not been compiled since 1947,” said an official.
The AAP government started eviction of panchayat land from May 14 which continued till June 30. “We were given a target of re-possessing 5,000 acres, but we crossed the target,” the official said.
