SAD to hold protests against land-pooling policy in Punjab

Chandigarh, Jul 1 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal Tuesday said his party will hold a series of protests against the land-pooling policy, alleging that the AAP government would "forcefully acquire 40,000 acres of land from farmers for peanuts." Calling the land-pooling policy as "land grabbing" one, Badal claimed that 40,000 acres of land of 158 villages were being "acquired" under it.

"AAP's Delhi leadership wants to collect funds for the party. This is the reason they have decided to acquire 40,000 acres of land across the state under the Punjab Regional Town Planning and Development Act, 1995 instead of the central Land Acquisition Act, 2013," he alleged.

The Punjab Cabinet last month gave its nod to the land-pooling policy and had then asserted that not even a single yard will be forcibly acquired from land owners.

Badal accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of not safeguarding the interests of farmers and the poor, who will suffer equally due to the land acquisitions. He said it was shameful the chief minister gave up the chairmanship of all land development authorities in the state and allowed this power to be transferred to the chief secretary.

"AAP game plan to give illegal benefits to private land developers was also clear from the fact that all four members of the development authorities were outsiders. This means the authorities will be run from Delhi".

He also asserted the interest of farmers was kept paramount while acquiring land during the erstwhile 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," he claimed.

Urging farmers not to fall into the "trap" of the AAP government and reject the acquisition in toto, 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 work conducted in the 2,500 acres of land acquired in 2021 in Mohali. Despite this, the government aims to acquire another 3,535 acres in Mohali, he added.

He asserted that SAD would not allow the land acquisition to go through at any cost.

He said the protests would be held in all cities where land was set to be acquired including Ludhiana, Mohali, Amritsar, Pathankot and Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, Sangrur, Moga, Nawanshehr, Ferozepur, Barnala, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Batala, Phagwara, Tarn Taran, Sultanpur Lodhi, Nakodar and Gurdaspur.

Under the land-pooling policy, a land owner will be given a 1,000 square yards of residential plot and a 200 square yards of commercial plot in fully developed land in lieu of one acre of land, the state government had earlier said.

It claimed the policy was designed to foster transparent and planned urban development across the state. PTI CHS MNK MNK