Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has announced a series of protests starting from Ludhiana on July 15, aimed at safeguarding the interests of farmers in Punjab.
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 which was in fact a “land-grabbing scheme”.
Sukhbir accused the AAP government of attempting to acquire the land under the Punjab Regional Town Planning and Development Act, 1995. He claimed that the scheme was designed not to benefit farmers or the public but to fill the coffers of the AAP, alleging that the party aimed to raise ₹10,000 crore through bribes.
The protests, according to Sukhbir, will take place across various cities where land is slated to be acquired, including Ludhiana (24,000 acres), Mohali (2,535 acres), Amritsar (4,464 acres), and several other districts like Patiala, Jalandhar, Bathinda and Sangrur, with a total of 40,000 acres of land affected.
Sukhbir highlighted the differences between the 1995 Punjab Act and the Central Land Acquisition Act of 2013. He pointed out that the latter would require compensation to be paid at four times the collector’s rate and include resettlement plans for affected farmers, while the former gives the state government more leeway in excluding land from acquisition and allowing its auction, lease, or allotment to private developers.
{{/usCountry}}Sukhbir highlighted the differences between the 1995 Punjab Act and the Central Land Acquisition Act of 2013. He pointed out that the latter would require compensation to be paid at four times the collector’s rate and include resettlement plans for affected farmers, while the former gives the state government more leeway in excluding land from acquisition and allowing its auction, lease, or allotment to private developers.
{{/usCountry}}“This is not about development. This is about looting the land and enriching the AAP’s Delhi-based leadership. The real agenda here is to help private developers, particularly those with ties to the AAP,” the SAD chief alleged.
Sukhbir also criticised chief minister Bhagwant Mann for allegedly allowing the land acquisition process to be handed over to outsiders, claiming that all four members of the state’s development authorities were from outside Punjab.