Bharatiya Janata Party leaders today met the Chief Minister Punjab Parkash Singh Badal demanding de-notification of Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) 1900 in the larger interest of people from 470 villages of kandi area.BJP leaders MP Rajya Sabha Avinash Rai Khanna and assistant media advisor Punjab CPS rank Vineet Joshi stated that the PLPA 1900 has been wrongly and illegally applied to 470 villages of Kandi Area as repeated notifications have been issued without following due process of law.A set procedure is required to be followed under PLPA 1900 regarding issuance of notification. As laid in section 7 of PLPA 1900, no proclamation was done, no settlement officer appointed, objections were never invited.
All notifications done in arbitrary manner without intimating the land owners and without giving them an opportunity of being heard and no compensation was awarded for loss suffered by them. Had they done the notifications as per the provisions of PLPA 1900, most of the land would have been out of PLPA.Moreover in the last 114 years, due to adoption of effective soil conservation measures, the lands have been stablized and no longer subject to accelerated erosion. The geographical conditions or ground realities have changed drastically. Khanna & Joshi also laid emphasis on getting fresh survey conducted in affected 470 villages of the kandi area by the Revenue Department. They also recommended Soil Conservation Department should take charge of all these areas taking it away from Forest Department.