Hoshiarpur: Protest over meagre acquisition rates by railways

Hoshiarpur, June 22

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The Kandi Kshetra Railway Prabhavit Sangharsh Committee under the chairmanship of Dharmendra Singh Simbli and Sunil Pramar, leaders of the Jamhuri Kisan Sabha, Punjab, and the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujawan Sabha, Punjab, blocked traffic for half an hour for their demands in Purana Talwara here on Wednesday.

Jamhuri Kisan Sabha Punjab leader and general secretary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujawan Sabha Punjab Dharmendra Singh Simbli said that the government had given a very low rate of compensation for the land being acquired by the Railways for this new project from Nangal Dam to Talwara.

“There is anger among the families of the victims being acquired by the Railways. Sunil Parmar, head of the Kandi Area Railway Prabhavit Sangharsh Committee, said the work of laying this new railway line from Nangal Dam to Talwara via Una had been completed from Una to Gagret. Besides, land of villages adjoining the Himachal-Punjab border, including Ramgarh Sikri, Bhavnaur, Nangal Khanoda, Bhol, Varingli, Kartauli and Vatbara, etc, had been acquired by the Railways. The work of allotting compensation was also going on.

He said land was being acquired at very low rates from farmers of the villages by the government. He said three to four years ago, the rate of this land was around Rs 54,000 to 75,000 per marla. But the land acquisition team of the Railways is allotting compensation to the affected farmers at the rate of Rs 18,000-22,000 per marla.

He said in the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh and in Anandpur Sahib too, the land of farmers was acquired under this railway project, but there is a huge difference in the compensation amount given to the farmers of the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh and Anandpur Sahib to that of the farmers here in Talwara areas.

While the project of the railroad is the same, but the criteria for allotting the compensation amount to the farmers is different. They said they had talked to the SDM, Mukerian, and the DC, Hoshiarpur, but SDM Mukeria Kawaljit Singh and Hoshiarpur DC Sandeep Hans gave only assurance but took no action. The affected families announced that on June 30, traffic will be jammed at Chaudhary Gyan Singh Chowk, Sansarpur Terrace road Talwara once again.