Chandigarh, May 19 (IANS): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave an ultimatum to the encroachers of government land to vacate the encroachments by May 31 or face the action.

In a statement here, the Chief Minister said the government is committed to freeing the land from illegal encroachments. He said during the tenure of the successive governments in the state, the affluent people had illegally encroached the government land by violating the norms, which is unwarranted and undesirable.

However, Mann said from day one after assuming the charge of office, his government had adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal encroachments.

The Chief Minister said it is a matter of great pride and satisfaction that the government has so far freed more than 9,000 acres of government land from illegal encroachers.

He said this momentum will be continued further and every inch of government land under illegal encroachment will be vacated by all means.

Mann asked the illegal encroachers to vacate the land under their possession by May 31 else the government will get it freed on its own.

The Chief Minister said a massive anti-encroachment drive by the government will start from June 1 to remove these encroachments. No one, however affluent he may be, will be spared during this drive to be started in larger public interest.