Tension at Sangrur village over auction of reserved land

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, May 26

Tension prevailed at Jhaloor village on Friday as the administration announced to auction the reserved land.

Dalits have been demanding that the land should be given only to those, who want to cultivate crops and not to the dummy candidates from Dalits nominated by upper-caste men.

Police have sealed all entry and exit points to the village to prevent the entry of outsiders. Last year, the village had witnessed clashes between Dalits and upper-caste men over the auctioning of land. Dalit Gurdev Kaur had died at the PGI, Chandigarh, in November 2016 after being injured in the clashes.

As many as 11 farmer organisations have formed the Jhaloor Jabar Virodhi Committee and are supporting Dalits. BKU Sidhupur has been supporting upper-caste men and its leaders allege that the committee members are deliberately creating division in the village.

There is 16 acres of reserved land in the village.

“As many as 32 people are accused in the murder case of Gurdev Kaur. But the police have arrested only five accused and want to allow the other accused to participate in the auction. We want to know how can an accused roam free without securing bail,” Mukesh Malaud, district president of Zameen Prapati Sanghrash Committee, said.

Moonak DSP Ajaypal Singh said they had sealed all entry points to the village to prevent any clash.     

Later, after some Dalits had a minor clash with another member from their community, the administration stopped  the process for the auction. The next date of auction will be announced soon.