Centre, Punjab govts taking away fertile land of farmers for urbanisation: Kisan Sabha

A state-level meeting of Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, Punjab, was held at Shaheed Sarwan Singh Cheema Bhawan, Garha, Jalandhar, under chairmanship of Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala. It was decided in the meeting that the state and Central governments will be urged not to implement plans to forcibly occupy the fertile lands of Punjab and build urban estates and protect its waters. State president of the Sabha, Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala, said the Central government wants to control the waters of Punjab by robbing the rights of states. He said the state government led by CM Bhagwant Mann is not serious about the river water issue. Ajnala said the government could not fulfill its promise of making canal water reach tail-end villages. While water is not being released in the canals of Punjab, the state’s share will not be allowed to go waste, he said.

State general secretary Kulwant Singh Sandhu, while addressing the meeting, said the government’s plan to build urban estates on the fertile lands of farmers and evict farmers from their land will not be allowed to succeed. He said lakhs of acres of fertile land in the state will be taken out of agriculture due to the construction of roads, colonies and urban estates. Due to this, not only will farmers and labourers become unemployed, the risk of food crisis will also increase.

State press secretary Harnek Singh Gujjarwal said formation of units in villages will be accelerated. Farmers were giving full support to form units of the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, Punjab.