Punjab: 800 Jalandhar houses get eviction notices from PSPCL

Ambedkar Nagar residents given one month to vacate premises as 65-acre land belongs to corporation, say officials

The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has sent eviction notices to 800 houses as it initiated the process to take back the possession of its 65 acres of land in Ambedkar Nagar of Jalandhar. The process to send notices began on Friday as the PSPCL has won a court case pertaining to the land possession, officials said. The occupants of the houses have been asked to vacate their premises within a month, the notice reads.

Residents of Ambedkar Nagar in Jalandhar discussing their fate over the PSPCL’s move to reclaim land.

According to the PSPCL, the land has been illegally occupied by private builders for the past few years. Officials said the PSPCL had been trying to get possession for the past several years but due to the extensive population in the area, it was unable to do so.

Jatinder Singh, a local resident, said they received the eviction notices recently in which the residents were told to vacate the land as the PSPCL had won a court case pertaining to its possession. “Most of the residents have spent their savings to build their houses. We had no clue that the land on which we were constructing houses belonged to the PSPCL,” he said.

When asked to show their land registration documents, area residents refused. Sukhdev Kaur, another resident, claimed many of the houses were built with funding under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. “How can it be possible that the government provided funds for the houses to be built on encroached land?” she said while refusing to show related documents.

PSPCL’s deputy chief engineer Gulshan Chutani said they have asked the local police for providing adequate security for taking back the possession of the land.

“The authority concerned has been asked to issue eviction notices to the residents. We have been waiting for a detailed court order to move further in the case,” he said.