SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal courts arrest over land relief

Mohali, September 29

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal and other party leaders today courted arrest here after they were stopped from marching to the Chief Minister’s residence in Chandigarh to protest the low compensation given to farmers whose land has been acquired for the Bharatmala project.

Will compensate adequately: Govt

The government is with the farmers. They will be adequately compensated for the land acquired under the Bharatmala project and all their grievances will be resolved. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Deputy Chief Minister

Earlier, thousands of SAD workers congregated at Gurdwara Amb Sahib here from where they started the march to the Chief Minister’s residence on tractors as well as on foot. The march was stopped near the border with Chandigarh, where SAD workers along with leaders of the Road Sangharsh Committee, which is spearheading the agitation for fair compensation, held a dharna before courting arrest. Sukhbir alleged the Congress government was giving affected farmers compensation ranging from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 70 lakh per acre for rural and urban land, respectively, when they should be getting at least Rs 2 crore per acre.

Around 25,000 acres of two lakh farmers is being acquired across 19 districts of the state. Sukhbir claimed the acquisition would render 75,000 acres useless with no access and irrigation facilities and more than 3,000 houses would be demolished and villages would lose 100 village ponds. He further claimed one crore trees would be felled under the project and hundreds of factories, shellers, poultry farms, brick kilns and dairy farms would be hit. He promised farmers a fair compensation if the SAD came to power. — TNS