Mahalon residents up in arms against Urban Estate plan

Residents of Mahalon village of Nawanshahr are up in arms against the state government for its alleged proposal to acquire 383 acres of land under the land pooling scheme being floated by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority.

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The residents on Wednesday lodged a protest and even handed over a memorandum on the issue to Nawanshahr Deputy Commissioner Ankurjeet Singh. Sarpanch of the village Nachhatar Kaur said the land in the village was much fertile and farmers are reaping three crops a year in the village. She said, "The livelihood of hundreds of farmers and farm labourers is dependent on this land. The entire village population will be affected by one decision of the government which we shall oppose tooth and nail".

Raj Kumar, Resham Kumar, Gurpreet Singh and Kulwinder Kaur, all panches of the village, said they had given a memorandum to the DC for the Governor so that he looks into the matter and ensures that they are not displaced.

"A notification for acquiring our land has already been issued but we have not given any consent for any such move. We shall lodge a protest if we are forced to give away our land", they said.

Expressing their apprehensions, the villagers said, "The government wants to urbanise the area and develop our village as Urban Estate for Nawanshahr. But in the whole process, we shall be losers. Apart from losing a larger chunk of our land and our livelihood, we do not even know when we shall be given the residential plot out of it. There is no time limit fixed by the government to develop Urban Estate. If it takes too long, where shall we go and what we do. Our future is completely bleak and we are feeling too insecure".