Chandigarh: Led by the state Congress leaders, a large number of party workers on Monday staged a protest outside the Greater Mohali Development Area (GMADA) office in Mohali near here, raising slogans against the land pooling policy and seeking its immediate withdrawal.
Addressing party workers, state Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said it was a subtle ploy of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to loot and rob the farmers of their precious land. “This is not land pooling, but land looting policy”, he said.
Warring said that the chief minister Bhagwant Mann should have learnt from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s experience, who eventually had to surrender and withdraw the three farm laws under pressure from the farmers.
The party also submitted a memorandum, addressed to the chief minister, to the GMADA administrator seeking immediate reversal of the policy. The leaders said the party would continue to hold protests across the state in days to come.
CM SLAMS OPPN FOR `MISLEADING PEOPLE’
Meanwhile, terming the new land pooling scheme as pro-farmer and development oriented, the chief minister Mann on Monday urged the people of the state to not get swayed away with the misleading propaganda of the opposition on this ambitious scheme.
Addressing the gathering after disbursing the grants worth Rs 31.30 crore to 70 villages of Dhuri assembly segment for development works, the Mann slammed the opposition for hoodwinking the facts to misinform the people about this scheme just for vested political interests.
He categorically said that there will be no forcible acquisition of land under the new and progressive land pooling scheme of the state and it will immensely benefit the farmers of the state.
THE POLICY
For record, the Punjab Cabinet had on June 2 last, approved its land pooling policy for the acquisition of land for housing and related projects aimed at promoting planned urban development.
The state AAP government planned to roll out the policy in 27 cities and towns including Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar to acquire about 40,000 acre land. However the policy has met with opposition from not only the opposition parties but also farmer organisations who held that land acquisition on such a large scale would displace thousands of farmers from their fertile land.
