Sangrur farmers, AAP protest ‘anomalies’ in land acquisition

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, June 1

State AAP convener Bhagwant Mann and co-convener Aman Arora have demanded action against officers, who allegedly converted commercial land into an agricultural one during land acquisition for widening of the NH-64.

They, along with affected farmers, raised slogans against the authorities near Badrukhan village on the Sangrur-Barnala road today.

“Our party will raise the matter in Parliament and the Assembly, demanding a CBI inquiry. We suspect the scam is not confined to Sangrur as land was acquired from Zirakpur to Bathinda for widening of the highway,” Mann said.

The farmers alleged that then Sangrur SDM Rajesh Dhiman, now posted as the Commissioner of the Mohali MC, converted their commercial land into an agricultural one after they refused to pay commission to him, while land of some local influential persons was converted from agriculture to commercial for which he took huge amounts.

An affected farmer, Sukhdev Kansal, said: “In 2012, the government had acquired my 2,000 square yards near Badrukhan village for widening of the NH-64. In 2014, it paid me Rs 3 crore for 1,500 sq yards at the rate of Rs 22,500 per square yard after declaring my land commercial. But in 2016, the authorities announced that the remaining 500 square yards were agricultural land, and not commercial. And it wanted to pay as per the rates for agricultural land. Then Sangrur SDM Rajesh Dhiman pocketed huge amounts and declared commercial land as agricultural in several cases.”

After farmers submitted a complaint to the district administration a month ago, the authorities stopped the payment of remaining Rs 70 crore in compensation. Kansal filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana HC three days ago, demanding a CBI inquiry and action against Dhiman.

Dhiman denied the allegation. “A land acquisition report was prepared before I joined as the Sangrur SDM. In the report, many streets and drains in villages were put under the ‘commercial’ category. I rectified the report by removing streets and drains from the ‘commercial’ category. At some places, agricultural land was wrongly declared commercial,” he claimed.

Sangrur Additional Deputy Commissioner Upkar Singh could not be contacted in spite of repeated attempts.

The charge
The farmers have demanded action against officers who allegedly categorised commercial land as agricultural during the land acquisition for the widening of the NH-64