2,828 acres of prime land free: Bhagwant Mann

Mann, who led the campaign to take possession of land in village Chotti Badi Naggal, said that the prime land is situated in the foothills and has been illegally occupied by several influential officers and politicians since long.

He said that the illegal occupants include Imaanjit Singh Mann, the son of Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur Simranjit Singh Mann, who allegedly encroached 125 acres and former minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar’s son Harmandeep Singh Dhaliwal who allegedly encroached five acres. Similarly, the CM said that daughter and son-in-law of Sangrur MP have also occupied 28 acres of prime land illegally.

Giving the details, Mann said that 1,100 acres of land have been encroached by Fauja Singh, who runs an infrastructure company. He said that others include Imaan Singh (125 acres), Akur Dhawan (103 acres), Jatinder Singh Dua and Pukhraj Singh Dua (40 acres), Prabhdeep Singh Sandhu, Gobind Singh Sandhu and Nanki Kaur (28 acres), Ripudaman Singh (25 acres), Navdeep Kaur (15 acres), Deepak Bansal (12 acres), KF Farms (11 acres), Tejvir Singh Dhillon (10 acres), Inderjit Singh Dhillon (8 acres), Deepinder Pal Chahal (8 acres), Sandeep Bansal (6 acres),
Harmandeep Singh Dhaliwal (5 acres), Manjit Singh Dhanoa (5 acres) and Rita Sharma (4 acres).

The CM said that starting May 1, the state government has so far taken possession of 9,053 acres of illegally encroached prime land. He said that it is a part of the poll guarantee of his party that “all the influential illegal encroachers who have plundered the wealth mercilessly will be brought to book”.

The CM further said that these parties have always mocked him raising questions like from where the funds will come.
“The funds will come from foothills of Shivaliks, only after the prime land under their possession will be freed,” the CM said.

He said that of the 2,828 acres, 265 acres is plains whereas 2,563 is hilly area, adding that trees of costly wood are found in abundance here. The CM said that only influential people who have occupied the land illegally are being removed adding that no tiller of land or poor person who is living here or earning his bread from this place is being displaced.

The CM also congratulated Rural Development Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal for spearheading this campaign. He said that this campaign will continue till the entire government land is freed from the encroachers. The CM also announced that a detailed enquiry has been ordered to ascertain how the land came to be occupied, adding that the officers who have connived will also be brought to book.