India, March 7 -- During the question hour, rural development and panchayats minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said the state government has freed up 12,341 acres of land from the clutches of encroachers to date. "The department has set up a special shamlat cell to monitor the status of legal cases for freeing the Shamlat lands of different Gram Panchayats from encroachers and ensure execution of warrants of possession duly issued. The possession of such lands is being handed over back to the concerned Gram Panchayats," the minister said in response to leader of opposition and Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa's question regarding the steps taken by the department to remove encroachment from panchayati land of Kahnuwan in Gurdaspur district....