Chandigarh: A large number of farmers on Wednesday took out tractor rallies across Punjab to protest the state government’s contentious land pooling policy.
Even though the opposition parties have already held protests against the said policy, it was the first time that the farmers affiliated with different unions held a statewide protest under the aegis of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM).
Farm leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said that the farmers have already appealed to the government to withdraw the policy before a massive agitation starts.
While Ludhiana district the biggest show of strength, farmers’ tractor rallies were also taken out in more than 116 villages in several districts of the state including Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Ferozepur, Patiala, Ropar and Fatehgarh Sahib where the farmers also staged demonstrations and raised slogans against ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, chief minister Bhagwant Mann and party supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
Meanwhile, it may be recalled that all the opposition parties, namely Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP have already launched protests against the said policy dubbing it a looting scheme to rob farmers of their fertile land. Chief minister Mann has hit out at the opposition parties for spreading lies to mislead people.
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. It plans to acquire about 65,000 acres of land in 27 cities and towns including Mohali, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, though the policy has met with opposition from not only the opposition parties but also the farmer unions who say that government’s plan to acquire land on such a large scale would displace thousands of farmers from their fertile land.
