Sonepat farmers’ hopes for land acquisition revived

BS Malik

Sonepat, July 2

Farmers of the district have started to hope again that their land will soon be acquired for a proposed Industrial Model Township (IMT) to come up in two phases on 6,600 acres.

The reason for their renewed hope is a meeting between a delegation of China’s MNC Delian Wanda Group of Industries and Haryana Government officers here on Wednesday regarding the IMT.

Farmers of Lath, Joli, Bidhal, Katwal, Bhainswal Kalan and Bali Brahmanan villages welcomed the move.

They feared the BJP government would abandon the project, but the delegation’s visit to the state has put to rest their apprehensions.

Dharam Pal Dhochak, who owns 14 acres in Lath village, said the previous government had issued notices under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act on January 15, 2013, and December 31, 2013, respectively, for acquiring 6,600 acres.

“With the BJP taking reins of the state, farmers got suspicious that the new government was uninterested in acquiring land. Delegations of farmers met leaders and administrative authorities for acquisition land several times,” he said, adding farmers were hopeful their land would be acquired for the Industrial Model Township that generate jobs.

A delegation of the company’s representatives — Harry Teng, Eavin Yang, Tao Huang, Yafeng Ye, Bai Yan and Maulik Banshal — held discussions with officers of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and that of other departments concerned.

The meeting was presided over by Deputy Commissioner Rajiv Ratan, who assured the company’s representatives that facilities required for developing the Industrial Model Township would be provided.

After the meeting, Harry Teng said: “The delegation will submit a report to the state government on the outcome of the visit.”

Company’s representatives had met Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on June 11 at Haryana Bhawan in New Delhi and inspected sites between Kharkhoda and Delhi, and in Lath-Joli villages on June 11 and 13, respectively.