Punjab withdraws land pooling policy following protests by farmers

Amid the mounting political and legal pressure, the Punjab government on Monday withdrew its land pooling policy, through which the state’s AAP government intended to acquire 65,533 acres.

The policy has been withdrawn after the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed it last week, coming down heavily on the government for bringing in the policy without undertaking any environmental or social impact assessment.

It is learnt that a meeting of some of the bureaucrats involved in framing the policy was held with AAP top bosses two days back. Till Monday morning, senior functionaries of the ruling party were holding meetings with senior ministers and other leaders. With the state leadership being unanimous in their view that the policy was politically disadvantageous for AAP, it was decided a few hours back to withdraw it.

Under the policy, the state government was to acquire 65,533 acres of land, 46,861 acres of which is located in Ludhiana.

The policy was announced in June, after which all political parties and farmer unions started their protest. Within the AAP, too, the leaders started showing dissent over the policy, asking the party leadership to first address the concerns of farmers.

The high court, in its orders last week, had come down heavily on the Punjab government “for notifying the policy in haste” and for failing to address the concerns of farmers.