BKU (Sidhupur) holds protest over land compensation at Manawala

Amritsar, November 24

The local unit of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur) demonstrated in support of their demands, including compensation for land acquisition for the Bharatmala project at the Manawala railway station here on Friday.

Over 100 farmers staged a demonstration on the platform of railway station at Manawala. However, a large number of police personnel were deputed to control the situation, but the farmers didn’t disrupt any train on the route. They raised slogans against the Centre and the state government.

The farmers alleged that the government didn’t release the compensation to the owners of the land acquired for the construction of roads under the Bharatmala project. Leaders of the BKU (Sidhupur) also alleged that huge irregularities were reported in deciding compensation for the land being acquired under the project.

Gurmej Singh, leader of the union, said, “We have several demands. The farmers have not been given compensation for the damage caused to the paddy crop due to rain. The AAP government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was well aware of the farmers’ demands, but they were not paying heed to them. We will continue with of our demonstration until our demands are met by the government.”

Earlier, the district administration had assured the farmers of taking action against the officials who committed irregularities in deciding compensation to the farmers for land acquisition under the Bharatmala project. Officials of the administration also assured the farmers that the compensation for their lands would be released soon.