Stopped from harvesting paddy, farmers protest

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 11

Farmers of Hussainpur Bulle village were today prevented from harvesting paddy by the Kapurthala administration.

The District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) in a case filed by the gram panchayat in 2012 has ordered eviction from the 219 acres allegedly “encroached” by farmers.

This has caused outrage among farmers who cultivated the land for the whole year, but were now being told not to harvest the crop.

The farmers — belonging to over 40 families — have threatened to commit mass suicide in their fields being cultivated by them for the past 50 years.

The farmers and their families have even begun holding theekri pehra in their fields to stop the administration from cutting their crops during the night.

According to BDPO Pargat Singh, the farmers were stopped from harvesting the crop as the case had been decided in favour of the gram panchayat. After crop assessment, it had also deposited Rs20.47 lakh with the Revenue Department.

Kisan Sangharsh Committee president Kuldip Singh Sangra told The Tribune that the decision was made on wrong facts presented in court.

The dispute erupted in 2012 when former sarpanch Kuldip Singh allegedly allotted the lease of 213 acres of panchayat land to some fake beneficiaries. He also got a case registered in the DDPO office against the illegal occupation of land by these farmers.

But an investigation by the district administration caught him on the wrong foot and he absconded.

The administration has sought police force to begin harvesting which is expected to begin tomorrow.