Farmers oppose land acquisition for Katra expressway

Tarn Taran, August 20

A piquant situation arose in Dhunda village and its surrounding areas on Tuesday when the NHAI authorities made a bid to take possession of the land for the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway. The bid was opposed by a large number of farmers of the area. In spite of the presence of heavy police force, the farmers foiled the efforts of the administration to take possession of their land. Officials of the administration forcibly entered the fields with JCB machines in the morning. When the farmers of the area came to know of it, they united in large numbers under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) led by Dial Singh Mianwiand, Harbinderjit Singh Kang and Pakhara Singh Lalpura and started protesting. They were demanding higher rates for the land to be acquired.

It is pertinent to mention here that in spite of efforts made during the last two years, the administration succeeded in taking possession of only a few kilometer stretch of land, the possession of the remaining 23 kilometers is yet to be taken. The administration claimed that from Khawaspur and Fatehbad village areas, the administration managed to take possession of two and a half kilometers of land on Tuesday but the farmers lodged a strong protest in Dhunda and other villages of the area. The protesting farmers gheraoed the officials and machines were not allowed to be deployed for the purpose of land acquisition.

Police force from Jalandhar too was called, led by Superintendent of Police, Prabhjot. The Tarn Taran administration was led by Sachin Pathak, SDM, Khadoor Sahib, Simranjit Singh, SDM, Tarn Taran, Ajayraj Singh, SP (Detective) and Ravisher Singh, DSP, Goindwal Sahib. The officials held talks with farmers who were demanding compensation at a higher rate. The administration had to return without taking possession of the remaining 23 kilometres of land. In the Khadoor Sahib block, there was trouble regarding the acquiring of land in Dhunda, Jhander Maha Purkhan and Fatehbad villages.

Ravisher Singh, DSP, Goindwal Sahib said the farmers must be pacified and no use of power should be made on them.