214 Donating common land
Shamlet deh
Punjab Village Common Lands
(Regulations) Rules, 1964
The latest amendment to the
Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulations) Rules,
1964 made by the state govt. allowing a
provision for ‘donating’ common land (Shamlet
deh) owned by Panchayats to other departments to
carry out commercial operations, free of cost
smacks of deep rooted conspiracy hatched by the
SAD-BJP govt. to squander people’s assets with
ulterior motives. Earlier if any such Panchayat
land was to be given for a public cause such as
construction of power grid or food grain yards,
the price of such common land was fixed by a
committee and approval given by the state govt.
Congress party has a hunch
that this illegitimate amendment to common lands
has purposely been made to benefit mega
companies like the DLF and Omaxe, through the
industries department to set up commercial
ventures such as one golf course planned by DLF
in and around very costly land of V. Mullanpur,
notice of which was taken suo moto by the High
Court and the transfer of Panchayat land was
stayed. This amendment is nothing but a ploy to
hoodwink the High Court and proceed with its
agenda of benefitting corporate houses such as
the DLF.
Congress apprehends that in
case the SAD-BJP govt. went ahead with the
implementation of this amendment without any
safeguards, almost all Panchayats would become
landless within a few years. In any case why
Panchayat land should even be handed over to
Punjab State Transmission Corporation, Mandi
Board and other commercial organizations free of
cost when these departments charge consumers for
all their operations?
Congress party urges the
state govt. to immediately withdraw this
amendment made to the Punjab Village Common
Lands (Regulations) Rules, 1964 so that
Panchayat lands across the state could be
protected for usage of our future generations.
Congress also urges the govt. to clarify and
assure that this amendment would not be misused
to pass on Panchayat lands to private builders
such as DLF and Omaxe to develop golf courses as
was planned by industries department in the garb
of mega project to give away hundreds of acres
of prime land to DLF around Mullanpur villages.