Abohar: Farmer falls to death at dharna site; front threatens blockade

Abohar, January 21

Bhupinder Pal, a resident of Dhani Thakar Singh village, who was part of the settlers’ indefinite dharna at Government Seed Farm Colony, died after falling from a trailer on Saturday night.

The protesters, who were supported and joined by various labour and farmer organisations, were demanding fair compensation for the land to be acquired by the Central Government for the highway bypass to be built under the Bharat Mala Project. They have been holding the agitation since December 3, last year, and are on an indefinite sit-in for the past few days.

The united front of various organisations have blamed the administration for the young man’s death. If the administration had accepted the demands of the farmers in time, this tragedy could have been averted, it said.

Those sitting on the dharna were in a state of shock and grief. Instead of getting the post-mortem done, they kept the body at the dharna site and expressed anger against the government. They demanded that the family of the deceased should be given a government job and compensation of Rs 50 lakh. All settlers should be given ownership rights of the seed farm land, they added.

Front spokesman Sandeep Singh said that unless their demands were met, they will neither get the post-mortem examination done, nor perform the last rites of the deceased. If the administration did not resolve the issue by today evening, they would block a road tomorrow, he said.

The administration has made it clear that the settlers have no claim on the land owned by the state government, therefore compensation for the acquired land couldn’t be given.