Border area farmers protest at Attari tehsildar's office

Tribune News Service

Manmeet Singh Gill

Amritsar, September 1

Farmers tilling agricultural land across the barbed fence alongside the International Border with Pakistan staged a protest outside the office of the Attari tehsildar, demanding immediate release of the dues of inconvenience allowance.

According to a government policy, the farmers who till their land beyond the fence are given an annual inconvenience allowance of Rs 10,000 per acre for the problems faced by them.

The farmers alleged that the previous five installments of the allowance, which accumulated to Rs 50,000 per acre, were pending.

Rattan Singh Randhawa of the Border Area Sangharsh Committee said, “Nearly four months ago, the government had released four installments. Due to indifferent attitude of the revenue officials, the money has not been paid despite repeated requests.”

The allowance to the farmers is paid as compensation for restricted working hours enforced by the BSF, loss caused by wild boars and harassment faced by the farmers.

A farm leader and former sarpanch of Nagar village, Baba Arjan Singh, said, “If the government has now woken after five years, local revenue officials are yet to wake up.” Another farm leader Makhan Singh of Rajatal said the tehsildar, after the protest, assured them to disburse the amount by September 9.

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