Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, March 21: MLA Kulwant Singh, who came to submit a memorandum regarding land acquisition only after accepting the demands of the affected farmers for acquiring land for the Aeropolis project AFGHI and J, assured the delegation of Bhartiya Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Morcha Mohali that he will talk to the Chief Minister Punjab and the Minister of the concerned department in this regard and this issue will be resolved according to the needs and demands of the farmers of the area.
The farmer leaders of villages like Patto, Badi, Kurdi, Kurda, Kishanpura, Chau Majra, Rai Majra etc., who were part of the delegation, brought to the notice of MLA Kulwant Singh that a resolution has been passed by the panchayats and farmers of villages Bakarpur, Chhat, Kishanpura, Badi, Matran, Siau, Kardi, Patto that they are all ready to give their offices to the Collector, Urban Planning Department, Punjab, if the 19 conditions placed before them are fulfilled. If these demands are not met, the lands should be kept out of the scope of lands to be acquired.
The delegation said that behind one acre of land, farmers should be given 1500 yards residential and 300 yards commercial plots and a cash award of 25 acres per acre should be kept. Secondly, the landowner should be given a lump sum of Rs 1 lakh annually and the lump sum amount should be increased by 10% every year. The period of getting lump sum should be till the allotment of the plot to be developed, not up to three years. Thirdly, for those farmers who have allied businesses like animal husbandry and other businesses along with agriculture for their livelihood, two kanal animal husbandry cluster plots and similar cluster plots should be given for other activities. Similarly, the amount of rehabilitation and resettlement should be given to the farmers who take land pooling. At least Rs 25 lakh per member per family should be given for rehabilitation and resettlement, because after this policy, every member of the family has to be resettled. The Asti (land to be evicted) plot should be given to every farmer, whether he accepts land pooling or accepts cash award.
The delegation also demanded that the amount received by the farmers from the sale of the plot given in the LOI should be kept out of the ambit of income tax. A meeting should be held first to accept the requests made by all the panchayats and landowners and these requests should be accepted and further action should be started only after agreement is reached with the landowners.
Apart from Nirmal Singh Kurdi, the delegation of farmers who met MLA Kulwant Singh included Satish Kumar Chaudhary, Jagat Singh, Makhan Singh Giga Majra, Karnail Singh Badi, Gurjant Singh Sarpanch Patton, Nawab Singh Siau, Gurbhajan Singh Numberdar, Randhir Singh Badi, Paramdeep Singh Baidwan, Manpreet Singh Numberdar, Gurpartap Singh, Kuldeep Singh Samana.