Vidhan Sabha resolves to hike land rates

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 3

The Haryana Assembly today vowed to provide enhanced compensation to farmers whose land had been acquired for the 18-km Kaithal bypass on the NH-65, paving the way for calling off farmers’ indefinite dharna.

Moving a calling-attention motion on the issue, Leader of the Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala alleged the government was resorting to “double standards” while awarding compensation to farmers for road widening projects. While farmers whose land had been acquired for the Pehowa, Ismailabad and Kalayat bypasses, had been awarded compensation to the tune of Rs46 lakh per acre, the farmers whose 412 acres had been acquired for the Kaithal bypass had got compensation of about Rs27 lakh per acre.

“Farmers of Gyong, Begpur, Kyodak, Ujhana, Nard, Pyonda and Titram had been protesting the inadequate compensation,” Chautala said, alleging the BJP Government’s discriminatory attitude with the farmers.

Chautala’s allegations resulted in a war of words with Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu, who reminded the former how farmers were compensation at the rate of around Rs2 lakh per acre during the INLD-BJP regime. At this, Chautala retorted the BJP was a part of the INLD-BJP alliance and its MLAs did not object to land compensation rate at that time, prompting the Finance Minister to assert that BJP MLAs had sat on a dharna along with farmers against the ‘inadequate’ land compensation rate in Bahadurgarh at that time.

Capt Abhimanyu said the government would do its best to provide adequate compensation to farmers.