SGPC to open Sikh mission centre in MP

Amritsar, February 27

Expressing solidarity with the displaced Sikh families, the SGPC has announced to set up Sikh mission centre at Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh.

This was disclosed by SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal during the state-level gurmat programme held at Gurdwara Sri Arjan Dev Ji, Shivpuri.

Showing concern about the Sikh families, who were declared illegal occupants of land in the tribal-dominated Karahal tehsil of Sheopur district, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said : “A government’s duty is to secure the rights of citizens rather than demolishing their houses. I appreciate the SGPC’s role in fighting for the families.”

In the wake of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, around a dozen families were uprooted from Karahal. A decade later, they returned to rebuild their lives and bought land there.

Now, after over two decades, on the orders of the government, their farmhouses were demolished, crops were levelled to ground between December 21 and December 31, 2019, as a part of anti-encroachment drive. The state government declared it was tribal land that could not be transferred to others according to the Madhya Pradesh Land Revenue Code and could not be purchased by outsiders.

Similarly, a large number of Sikhs in Sheopur and neighbouring Shivpuri, both districts in the Gwalior-Chambal region, faced forced eviction from their houses alleging that they had illegally occupied the forest and government land.

A SGPC team also reached out to the affected Sikhs to probe into the MP Government’s action. — TNS