Chandigarh, May 11
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab president and Member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann accused the Captain Amarinder Singh-led state government for forcibly snatching the land of the farmers of Punjab for the construction of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway under the Bharatmala Project, which the AAP strongly oppose. In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Tuesday, Mann said that the Captain government’s dictator’s decree to forcibly occupy the lands of the farmers should be canceled immediately and the problems of the farmers should be solved before acquiring the land. He said that the Captain government had issued a notice to put the amount of the land under the Expressway in the accounts of the farmers forcibly and at the same time, the farmers had been warned that if they do not take the government price of the land within 60 days and do not give possession of the land, then the land will be occupied with the help of Punjab Police.
Mann said that the Aam Aadmi Party strongly condemns the dictator’s decree of the Captain government and the party will not allow any farmers’ land to be taken away forcibly. He said that the Narendra Modi-led central government wants to buy the farmers’ land at throwaway prices only at the collector rates for the construction of Expressways and national state routes across Punjab under the Bharatmala Project, but the farmers are strongly opposing the collector rates. He said that even though this Expressway has to be built by the central government, the land for this route has to be purchased by the Punjab government. Accusing Captain Amarinder Singh, Mann said, “To appease his boss PM Narendra Modi, Captain is forcibly giving the land of the Punjab farmers on collector rates, while the farmers are demanding to fix the price of their lands on the common market price.”
He said that fixing the price of the land without talking to the farmers was a big fraud with them. Mann said that the demands of the farmers are valid. He said that the farmers should get the price of the land as per the market rate and normal roads from the newly constructed Expressways should be made for them. Also, the condition of taking NOC for doing any business on the land adjacent to the Expressway should be abolished, he added. Mann said with increase in the height of the road, the water gets accumulated in the fields thus spoiling the crops. Therefore, better management of drainage of rain water should be made from the Expressway, he said. He said with this, every member of the family of the farmers whose land comes under the Expressway should be given a government job.
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