Abohar Seed Farm settlers protest over land acquisition for Bharatmala project

Abohar, March 11

Residents of Seed Farm on a call by the Abadkar Sangharsh Committee closed both the gates of Abohar bus stand on Monday and staged a dharna on the main road demanding ownership of the land that they had been cultivating for the past about 60 years. Hundreds of passengers had to face trouble as bus services stayed suspended during the sit-in.

Officials of the sangharsh committee said that they made the Govt Seed Farm lands fertile with their hard work, on which hundreds of families now earn their living by farming, but the 20 acre land is being acquired under the Bharatmala Project of the Central Government and no compensation was being given.

The committee alleged that the state government wants to forcibly remove them from the agricultural land and houses by issuing dictatorial orders without giving them proper compensation, which cannot be tolerated. They have been protesting for almost two months demanding handing over the ownership rights of the land to claim the compensation.

MLA Sandeep Jakhar had raised the issue during the Budget Session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha and urged the state government to make a provision to give compensation to the farmers who would lose about 20 acres of land due to construction of bypass to link AboharFazilka Road with Abohar-Malout Road as they had no other source of income, but the govt did not respond.

MLA had appealed to the state government

MLA Sandeep Jakhar had raised the issue during the Budget Session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha and urged the state government to make a provision to give compensation to the farmers who would lose about 20 acres of land due to construction of bypass to link Abohar-Fazilka Road with Abohar-Malout Road as they had no other source of income, but the govt did not respond.