Mohali farmers call for rollback of land pooling policy at tractor rally

Several farmer union members, including Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), Bharatiya Kisan Union Lakhowal, BKU (Rajewal), and local residents today staged a tractor march in villages across the district to protest against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s land pooling scheme.

Around 100 tractors marched through the village roads highlighting their solidarity and awareness about the rights of the farmers.

The march began from Saneta and passed through Manakpur Kallar, Siaun, Patton, Badhi, Matran, Kurdi, and culminating in Bakarpur.

Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee Punjab Morcha Sarvan Singh Pandher said, “The Bhagwant Mann government should immediately take back this policy before farmers’ protest forces him to take it back.”

Notably, around 6,500 acres of land is proposed to be acquired from the farmers of these villages by September 30 end under the land pooling scheme.

Farmer union members said while the government advertised it as a voluntary scheme on July 4, the policy in reality lacks statutory safeguards, including social and environmental impact assessments, fair compensation and rehabilitation of affected families. “It favours big builders, and land aggregators, and facilitates the fertile acquisition of smalltime farmer’s land by duping him,” they said.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, have also lent support to the farmers’ bodies against the implementation of the policy.

The land in question is proposed to be developed into nine new sectors — 84, 87, 103, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124 and 101 — with institutional area, commercial, industrial and residential areas.

Plots vacant in Mohali, Ludhiana: Sidhu

Following the tractor march today by farmers throughout the state, Congress leader Balbir Singh Sidhu said the AAP government must take notice of the protest.

The former minister questioned the rationale behind the government’s intention to acquire 6,500 acres of fertile land, especially considering that numerous flats and plots remain vacant in cities like Mohali and Ludhiana.

He pointed out that, despite thousands of vacant plots in industrial parks across the state, the government recently permitted commercial activity on these plots and even allowed the division of larger industrial plots due to a lack of sales and development. In light of this, he asked what justification there could be for reserving 21,000 acres of fertile land for an industrial park.

The Congress leader accused the AAP of harboring ulterior motives, suggesting they aim to take land from farmers at no cost, only to hand it over to multinational corporations, big builders, and industrial houses. He claimed this would enable them to raise significant funds for ensuing elections in Bihar, Gujarat and Punjab.