Patiala, April 24 - More than three years have passed since the acquisition of more than 300 acres of land belonging to more than 400 families of 24 villages for the Northern Bypass under construction in Patiala, but the Bhagwant Mann government of Punjab and the BJP government at the Center have not compensated the farmers. They are refusing to give and the compensation that is being fixed is Rs. 30 lakhs per acre of land worth Rs. 10 crores per acre, which is very unfair to the farmers.
If the government does not give the compensation within a week as per the rules, we will hold dharnas against both the governments along with the farmers and stand firmly with the farmers. This statement was made by Akali Dal candidate NK Sharma from Patiala Lok Sabha constituency. He was addressing a press conference in a marriage palace here today along with former minister Sardar Surjit Singh Rakhra, Patiala rural constituency in-charge Jaspal Singh Bittu Chatha, affected farmers and other leaders.
NK Sharma put all the facts in front of the media including the data and told that this land was transferred to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in 2021 and the farmers are no longer its owners. He said that when the farmers approached the Cabinet Minister Dr. Balbir Singh, they did not want to raise the issue with the government for compensation, but told the farmers that the land is with you. He said that these affected farmers went to meet the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann 9 times but the Chief Minister did not give time to meet the farmers even once but the OSD kept sending the farmers back after giving assurance. He said that in the same way, when the affected farmers approached the present MP of Patiala, Praneet Kaur, she also could not give compensation from the Centre. He said that the affected farmers approached the High Court, then the High Court ordered to pay the money to the farmers within 60 days, but today 84 days have passed, but the government has not yet announced the amount of compensation to be given. It has been skied and neither is it seen that the compensation is getting.
They said that they appeal to both Praneet Kaur and Dr. Balbir Singh to give compensation to the affected farmers within a week. If the compensation is received, they will be grateful to both of them, but if the compensation is not received, the Shiromani Akali Dal will join forces with the affected farmers and hold sit-ins against the BJP and AAP governments and their leaders will be surrounded. On this occasion, the affected farmers announced that in the 24 villages where the land has been acquired, BJP and AAP candidates should not come to seek votes. If they come, they will be opposed.
On this occasion, former minister Sardar Surjit Singh Rakhra said that the government has run away from giving compensation after uprooting the people, which is highly condemnable. John said that this should not be done excessively with the farmers. He said that both the AAP government of Bhagwant Mann and the BJP government at the center have proved to be anti-farmers.
On this occasion, Jaspal Singh Bittu Chatha said that the land has been acquired for three years but no compensation has been received yet.
On this occasion, apart from others, Akali Dal's city president Amit Rathi, vice president Rajinder Singh Virak, former chairman Lakhvir Singh Lot, Harbans Singh Lang, Sukhwinder Bobby and other dignitaries were present in large numbers.