Give fair compensation for land acquired: KMSC

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 20

Members of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and the Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Azad on Thursday announced that they would stage a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office on July 24 alleging that the government had not fulfilled their long-pending demands. The farmer unions also stated that they would hold protests on railway tracks on July 25 if the government failed to accept their demands.

KMSC general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said protests would be held at all district headquarters in the state. Addressing a gathering of women members of the union here on Thursday, Pandher said the government had failed to ensure the purchase of moong and maize crops at the MSP announced by it. The farmer leader said the MSP should be provided on all crops and the government must issue a legal guarantee for the same.

He said the farmers had to sell their produce at much below the MSP. Pandher also demanded a fair compensation for the land being acquired for the Bharat Mala project. He said the government was using force to acquire land, which would not be tolerated.

The union leaders stated that they would oppose the state government’s move to install pre-paid electricity meters in rural areas. They said the settlers on agricultural lands should be given ownership rights of the land.

Pandher said, “The farmers have been tilling the lands, which are now claimed to be government property, for the last three generations. It is unjustified to evict these farmers as they have made these barren lands cultivable.”

Lakhwinder Singh Dala, another farmer leader, said the paddy, green fodder and other crops grown on lakhs of acres had been damaged. Thousands of buffaloes and cows drowned in the floods. Dala put forth a demand to the government for compensating the residents who were affected by the floods.

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