Chandigarh ,July 25 (Harbans Singh)
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring today urged the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to roll back the land-pooling scheme that will not only rob farmers of their land, but will destroy Punjab’s agricultural economy.
Warring’s question on the ‘land-pooling’ was listed for Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha today. However, due to the adjournment the question could not be raised there.
The PCC president maintained that under the Land Acquisition Law passed by the Congress led UPA government in 2013, a farmer should get three times the market price for his land, which means 300 percent. But, he pointed out, the AAP government was taking away the land without any compensation, which was unprecedented and unheard of.
He noted that the government was giving the farmers a false assurance that the prices of their land will appreciate and they will feel adequately compensated if they part with their land. “Providing 1000 square yards against one acre is simple robbery”, he observed, while adding, where farmers should get 300 percent, they are offered 25 percent. “Who can accept this policy?” he asked, while assuring the farmers that the Congress will stand by them.
The Ludhiana MP asserted that the AAP government will eventually have to withdraw the policy as the Congress will fight this battle on all fronts, legal, legislative and publicly.
The PCC president also asked the district presidents across Punjab to be ready to ‘gherao’ the DC offices across the state against the land-pooling policy.
He said, besides turning 50,000 acres of land into concrete jungle which will be an environmental disaster, this policy if implemented will also ruin Punjab’s economy which is agriculture based.
Turning 50,000 agricultural land into concrete will hit the food production which fetches Punjab Rs 80,000 crores every year and that helps running the state’s economy, he warned.
