Panchayat of 12 villages protests against varsity regional centre

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, December 16

A panchayat of Dhankhar-12 Khap, held in Raiya village here on Sunday, expressed its resentment against the state government for taking 105 acres of the village on lease to set up the regional centre of the University of Horticulture Science without accepting villagers’ demands.

They resolved to call on Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhanker in this regard before deciding their further course of action.

The protesting villagers demanded a job for each family in the village or adequate compensation in lieu of land.

The panchayat, attended by residents of 12 villages and dominated by the Dhankar khap, also decided to boycott programmes of the BJP leaders in their village concerned if any firm action was not taken regarding their demand soon.

“Most of the villagers are not in favour of giving the village land for the project. We are mulling approaching court if the government ignores the demand,” said Jitendra Dhankar, a Khap leader.

Pradeep, husband of village sarpanch, said, “The panchayat land has been given on lease for 33 years at the rate of Re 1 per acre per annum. As per the lease agreement, a quota of 15 per cent in the job at the region centre has been fixed for the villagers. Even, some seats will be reserved for the villagers in the course to be run in the centre,” he added.

Notably, the regional centre authority has recently taken the possession of the land after measurement. Moreover, tender has also been floated for the construction of the fencing.