Farmers hold protest against toll plaza in Mannan village

Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, November 23

Farmers and the other residents, under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), Punjab, burnt an effigy of the state government and the district administration on Saturday to protest against the construction of a toll plaza near Mannan village on the Amritsar-Khemkaran national highway.

Harpreet Singh Sidhwan, state leader of the KMSC, said they had been on the agitation path for the past over six months, demanding withdrawal of the notification issued regarding the construction of the toll plaza, but the district administration has failed to come up with a solution. The leader said owners of the land, which was to be acquired for the construction of toll plaza, were demanding better prices for their land, besides 30 per cent allowance as compensation and job for uprooted farmers.

He said officials of the National Highways Authority of India, with a heavy police force, came to the spot to mark the land to be acquired on Friday, over which the farmers expressed resentment.

The farmers warned that they would not allow the land to be acquired without consent of the owners.