DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday announced a series of protests to start from Ludhiana on July 15 to safeguard the interests of farmers whose 40,000 acres of land are set to be acquired by the AAP government under a 1995 State land acquisition act.

Addressing a press conference here, the SAD president said 40,000 acres of land of 158 villages were being acquired under a purported land pooling scheme. " Sukhbir Badal said while the central Land Acquisition Act, 2013 called for giving compensation at the rate of four times the collector rate besides a resettlement scheme, the 1995 Punjab Act allowed leeway to the AAP government to exclude land parcels from acquisition as well as lease, auction or allot the acquired land. Alleging that this was being done to collect money, Badal claimed that the entire acquisition was being planned after holding meetings with builders of Delhi who had given their requirement for land in various cities of Punjab to the AAP government. "The government is now set to meet these requirements be it exempting land from acquisition under Section 56 of the 1995 Punjab Act or allowing for auction, lease or allotment of land to favourites under Section 43 of the State Act".

Badal said it was shameful that the chief minister had given up the Chairmanship of all land development authorities in the State and allowed this power to be transferred to the chief secretary. He said the AAP game plan to give benefits to private land developers was also clear from the fact that all four members of the Development Authorities were outsiders. "This means the Authority will be run from Delhi". He also asked the chief secretary not to become a party to this illegality saying he could be held accountable later even as he urged the Cabinet to scrap the new Committee to ensure sanctity in governance.

Badal also highlighted how under the new acquisition, the small farmers would be the biggest losers. He said those possessing 50 acres of land would be eligible to get back 60 per cent of the same whereas those possessing nine acres would only get 33 per cent back. He said farmers would also not be allowed to sell the land, take loan on it or undertake Change of Land Use (CLU) once the notification for acquisition was done.

He also asserted the interest of farmers was kept paramount while acquiring land during the Akali regime. "Land acquisition was done for specific purposes be it for the Mohali international airport for which farmers received a compensation of more than Rs 2 crore per acre or for thermal plants and other public infrastructure. Urging farmers not to fall into the trap of the AAP government and reject the acquisition in toto, Mr Badal said "the government does not aim to either develop the land or create any infrastructure". He cited the example of how no road had been built or any electrical works conducted in the 2500 acres of land acquired in 2021 in Mohali. Despite this the government aims to acquire another 3,535 acres in Mohali", he added.

Asserting that the SAD would not allow the land acquisition to go through at any cost, Badal said: "We will not allow this". He said the protests would be held in all cities where land was set to be acquired including Ludhiana (24000 acres), Mohali (2535 acres), Amritsar (4464 acres), Pathankot and Jalandhar ( 1000 acres each), Patiala (1150 acres), Bathinda (848 acres), Sangrur (568 acres), Moga (542 acres), Nawanshehr (338 acres), Ferozepur (313 acres), Barnala (317 acres), Hoshiarpur (550 acres), Kapurthala (150 acres), Batala (160 acres), Phagwara (200 acres), Tarn Taran (97 acres), Sultanpur Lodhi (70 acres), Nakodar (200 acres) and Gurdaspur (80 acres).

(editor@dailyworld.in)