Chandigarh, July 16
Strongly condemning the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government for forcibly acquiring land and appointing arbitrators for Bharatmala road project in Punjab, without the consent of the farmers; the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema said that Captain Amarinder Singh should not follow the policy of his boss Prime Minister Narendra Modi to loot and destroy the farmers and should pay the price of the land being acquired as per the demands of the farmers. In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Friday, Harpal Singh Cheema said that Captain Amarinder Singh’s government was acquiring farmers’ lands for the Bharatmala road project at a cost of only Rs 8 to 10 lakh.
Cheema said that apart from this, the opinion of the farmers was also not being sought regarding the appointment of various arbitrators to settle the land related issues. “Due to this, the farmers across Punjab were angry with the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government and were staging dharnas at various places against the acquisition of land at nominal rates,” he added. Cheema pointed out that with the acquisition of a farmer’s land, the farmer gets some money; but new problems arise for the farmer’s family. He said that due to the construction of new roads, the land was divided into pieces, the access to the farm was closed, the water supply was cut off and sometimes the tubewells were also cut off.
The AAP leader further said that the families of the farmers had to deal with the problems like buying new land, managing water, building houses and getting electricity connection; but the government does not reimburse the farming family by paying money once in exchange for land. Cheema said that the Captain government was giving land to the farmers in different districts at the existing collector price which was very negligible. “Farmers in various parts of Punjab are being paid only Rs 8 to 10 lakh per acre, while the value of land in the open market is more than Rs 1 crore,” he added.
Cheema said the Aam Aadmi Party would not allow government bullying of the farmers of the state, as the farmers were already struggling against the three agriculture laws framed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the centre. He appealed to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to fix the price of land with the consent of the farmers of the state, give displacement allowances, concessions in further purchase of land and government jobs to the family members of the farmers.
