Malerkotla farmers clash with police over land acquisition

Miffed over ‘inadequate’ compensation, farmers alleged that their land was being forcibly acquired without their consent last week.

Farmers, led by Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) members, clashed with police over land acquisition for the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway in Sarod and Ranwan villages in Malerkotla on Wednesday.

No one was injured in the clash, police said. (HT Photo)

No one was injured in the clash, an official added.

This comes on a day when the Punjab and Haryana high court granted the state two weeks to acquire land for the infrastructure projects of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Miffed over ‘inadequate’ compensation, farmers alleged that their land was being forcibly acquired without their consent last week.

The police, anticipating the protest, had barricaded the road leading to Sarod and Ranwan villages with sand-laden trucks.

The farmers pushed through the barricading and reached the villages.

Gurpreet Singh, a member of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), criticised the government’s approach and said, “Instead of engaging farmers in discussions to reach an agreement, the administration forcibly took possession of our land. This is a blatant misuse of power by the state government.”

The district administration, however, maintained that compensation had already been given.

“The majority of the land required for the project in Malerkotla has already been acquired, an official said, pleading anonymity. He said the delay in acquiring some stretches of land was due to disputes among the family members of the landowners.

“Compensation has been awarded to the person listed as the owners in government records, not necessarily to the one currently in possession of the land,” the official added.

Later in the evening, the district administration convened a meeting with the farmers and announced a 10-member committee to address the grievances.

The farmer union leaders claimed that the district administration had assured them that no development work would be carried out on the acquired land until the committee took a decision.

Joginder Singh Ugrahan, state president, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), added, “The district administration reneged on its promise to not take possession without the consent of the land owner. The union peacefully protested against the district administration despite the use of force by the Punjab Police.”

Malerkotla deputy commissioner Palavi, after the meeting with the farmers, said, “We have already deposited compensation into the concerned court regarding the acquiring land for Delhi-Katra Expressway. We have lawfully taken possession of the land. Now, we have formed a committee which includes revenue, district administration and police officials. We have also included farmers in the committee, and issues will be resolved timely.”

On August 9, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in a hard-hitting letter to the chief minister Bhagwant Mann warned that NHAI will have no other option but to cancel/terminate eight severely affected highway projects in Punjab with a total length of 293 km costing ₹14,288 crore, if the law and order situation does not improve in the state.

Besides highlighting issues of delay in land acquisition, Gadkari’s letter referred to two incidents in Jalandhar and Ludhiana wherein NHAI staff and contractors working on the Delhi-Katra Expressway were assaulted and threatened. Gadkari’s letter also said that the NHAI has already terminated three projects in Punjab with a total length of 104 km and costing ₹23,263 crore.

Punjab Government, however, has categorically denied all these accusations, with CM Mann blaming the NHAI for the delay in land acquisition and said that the two incidents of threats and violence in Jalandhar and Ludhiana are attributable to its concessionaire/ contractor.

Meanwhile, CM Mann on Wednesday, after inaugurating the new office of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) in Mohali, said that there was no law and order issue in the state.

“There is no law and order problem in the state over land acquisition for NHAI projects,” Mann said.