Farmers Movement Archive

Now, Kapurthala farmers say no to land acquisition

Kapurthala, December 28Farmers of Kapurthala villages on Monday unanimously decided not to allow their land to be acquired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the setting up of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway.FACTFILEFarmers, who had a meeting at Sultanpur Lodhi Grain Market under the banner of Kisan Sangharsh Committee, said the NHAI had plans to acquire their agricultural land falling in Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi and Bholath subdivisions for the proposed passage.Hundreds of farmers who gathered to express their unanimity on the issue raised slogans against the Centre and the NHAI saying they would not allow their fields to be acquired till the time the Centre took back its new farm laws.State president of the committee Sukhdev S Dhillon said they would not allow any officials of the Revenue Department or any survey teams inside their fields. He alleged that the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre was playing at the hands of the corporate and trying to marginalise the Punjab farmers. He said the collector rates had been deliberately brought down recently through the district administrations in the villages, from where the land had to be acquired.Deepti Uppal, DC, Kapurthala We have already held meetings with farmers including a recent one when environment assessment was done. Of course, the tempers of farmers are high at the moment, but we are confident that we will be able to cut a deal with them. We are to acquire land from seven villages of Kapurthala subdivision, 18 from Bholath and 12 from Sultanpur Lodhi.Harmanpreet Singh Dikki, chairman of the committee, said 16,000 acres of land owned by the Punjab farmers was being destroyed for the expressway. He said the proposed expressway to be laid by the NHAI would be 15 feet higher than the berms owing to which waterlogging could also be a problem.Kapurthala district president of the committee Prabhdyal Singh Saidpur said the farmers of Kapurthala would stand united against any forcible attempt of the authorities to acquire their land. “We will not let our land go for peanuts,” he said.Kapurthala DC Deepti Uppal said: “We have already held meetings with farmers including a recent one when environment assessment was done. Of course, the tempers of farmers are high at the moment, but we are confident that we will be able to cut a deal with them. We are to acquire land from seven villages of Kapurthala subdivision, 18 from Bholath and 12 from Sultanpur Lodhi.”

The Tribune

2020-12-29