Three employees of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabadhak Committee (SGPC) were injured in a clash between a team of SGPC officials and workers of the Baba Bhai Roop Chand Langar Seva Society in Bhai Rupa village in a dispute over ownership of 161 acres of land.
The employees of the SGPC, that claims to be the owner of the land, had gone to the village for allotting it for cultivation. However, members of the society and villagers objected to it. It was decided that the matter will be resolved through negotiation later.
However, the matter did not end there. A clash erupted between the two groups as the SGPC team went inside a gurdwara at the site. The angry villagers chased the employees. Three of the employees of the SGPC were injured and have been admitted to the government hospital in Rampura Phul.
The injured have been identified as Jarnail Singh, Manjit Singh and Joga Singh. As the villagers outnumbered the committee team members, they were forced to leave the place with police help. Both parties resorted to use of sticks and stone-pelting at each other. A heavy police force was deployed in the village to check any untoward incident.
Rajwinder Singh, president of the society, said that the land originally belonged to the society and the SGPC was trying to usurp it. Another member of the society Nand Lal said that the society, which managed the langar for years and used to lease out the land to villagers for cultivation, was the actual owner of the land. He said that there were attempts to take possession of the land in June last year also, but they were foiled by the villagers. He also blamed the SGPC team for entering the sacred place with shoes and along with weapons.
{{/usCountry}}Rajwinder Singh, president of the society, said that the land originally belonged to the society and the SGPC was trying to usurp it. Another member of the society Nand Lal said that the society, which managed the langar for years and used to lease out the land to villagers for cultivation, was the actual owner of the land. He said that there were attempts to take possession of the land in June last year also, but they were foiled by the villagers. He also blamed the SGPC team for entering the sacred place with shoes and along with weapons.
{{/usCountry}}However, Sukhdev Singh, general secretary, SGPC, who was also present on the spot, said, "The land belonged to the committee as per the court orders. So, they had gone to the village to allot the same for cultivation."
SHO, Rampura Phul, Gursher Singh, said that no formal complaint has yet been filed by any of the groups and said that the police will act as soon as it will receives a complaint in this regard.