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Ludhiana: GLADA gets 1,600 affidavits against land pooling policy
The land pooling policy is being opposed by farmers and also political parties as they accuse the state government of putting their livelihood in jeopardy in the name of urban development
Over 1,600 villagers have filed their objections against the state government’s land pooling policy at the GLADA office, officials said. At the same time, only five consent forms have been submitted.
According to a senior GLADA official, who sought anonymity, “Initially, GLADA gave a month for filing consent forms or objections. Later, the time window was decreased to 15 days. After the state government’s notification came out on July 2, more than 1,600 objection papers have been received till Wednesday evening.”
Thursday will be the final day for submitting objection or consent forms. The land pooling policy is being opposed by farmers and also political parties as they accuse the state government of putting their livelihood in jeopardy in the name of urban development.
Harwinder Kaur, a resident of Basaimi village, submitted an affidavit against the policy. “Our farmland is our only source of survival. If the government takes it away, how will we live? We will never accept this policy,” she said.
Gurmeet Singh from Bhattian Dhaha village echoed similar sentiments. “Our generations have been farming this land. This policy is not acceptable to us. We will protect our land at any cost,” he stated in his affidavit.
Villagers also alleged that they were being pressured to give consent for land pooling. “GLADA officials have been calling us daily asking for consent, but we will not do so,” said another farmer who submitted his objection paper.
The Congress recently held a massive protest outside the GLADA office. The Shiromani Akali Dal has announced a protest on July 22, vowing to fight alongside farmers. Many villagers have already staged dharnas in their villages, warning the government to roll back the scheme.
Under the Punjab government’s land pooling scheme, around 24,000 acres have been notified to be brought under urban development. In this scheme, landowners give their land to the government for planned urban development and, in return, receive developed residential and commercial plots once the area is fully developed. To provide financial support during this period, the government has also announced to pay ₹30,000 per acre every year to the landowners until the urban estate is ready. The aim of the scheme is to ensure fair compensation and planned infrastructure while stopping unorganised and haphazard urban growth.
Despite growing anger, GLADA officials have so far remained silent on the sharp opposition. Farmers and opposition parties are now demanding immediate cancellation of the land pooling policy and withdrawal of the notification.
GLADA junior assistant Onkar Singh said, “We have received around 1,500 objections. The consent forms we got are very few in number.”
Despite repeated attempts, GLADA’s chief administrator Sandeep Kumar and additional chief administrator Ojasvi were not available for comments.
The state government has already stated that land would be acquired for housing projects only after obtaining consent of farmers.
