Punjab Land Preservation Act

The Punjab Land Preservation Act was legislated in 1900. It was enacted by the then Punjab Government. The act provided conservation of subsoil water and prevention of erosion (in the regions that are liable to soil erosion).

What is the issue around Punjab Land Preservation Act?

The Punjab Land Preservation (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2019 was proposed. However, it was largely opposed by the opposition party. The oppositions were mainly around amendments made in Section 3 of the act.

What does the amendment say?

The amended Section 3 of the act allows the government to bring any area under the ambit of the act. Provided these areas should be “subjected to erosion” or “there should be possibilities for the area to become liable to erosion”. Also, the Section 3C introduced in the act will introduce construction activities in the region in the name of farm houses.

Why are the oppositions raised?

According to the environmentalists and the opposition, the act has exposed thousands of acres of land to mining and real estate development. These lands are on the hill and foothills of Aravallis. The original act of 1900 prevented drilling and tilling of land in certain areas. Now these amendments will permit construction activities in these vulnerable areas. All these newly identified lands are agricultural lands according to the environmentalists. This will increase the erosion and lose of top soil. And above all, this will increase the disappearance of Aravallis.

How will the act affect Aravallis disappearing?

In 2018, the Supreme Court report found that 31 out of 128 hills of the Aravalli range have vanished. This is mainly due to illegal quarrying in the region. Also, the Aravallis is affected from anthropogenic activities such as cutting of trees, stone crushing, mining, large scale construction and dumping of waste. The illegal mining in the region has dried up some of the lakes in the hills. This has also affected the natural drainage system in the region. Thus, the amendment to the Punjab Land Preservation Act will ease construction activities in the region and will add up to the already disappearing Aravallis.