Punjab CM to ask Gadkari to revise land relief of farmers
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Jul, 2021 11:27 AM
Chandigarh, July 26 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday assured a farmers' delegation that he would soon meet Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to raise the demand for further revision in compensation against land acquired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the 'Bharatmala Pariyojana'.
The farmers have rejected the meagre compensation awarded by the district revenue officers (DROs), who have been designated as competent authority for land acquisitions.
In response to a request by a Road Kissan Sangarsh Committee, a delegation of which met him here, the Chief Minister asked the Financial Commissioner, Revenue to issue detailed instructions not to credit the compensation amount into the accounts of farmers against their will.
He also directed the Director General of Police to ensure that the farmers' land is not forcefully seized.
The issue relates to 25,000 hectares in 15 districts across the state. The land is under process of acquisition for the project covering multiple expressways, viz Delhi-Jammu-Katra, Jamnagar-Amritsar, Ludhiana-Ropar, Bathinda-Dabwali, besides bypass for Jalandhar and Ludhiana.
The Chief Minister directed his Principal Secretary to seek early appointment for a meeting with Gadkari. He stressed the need to resolve the issue on priority to the satisfaction of farmers, who are protesting for the past several months.
He also directed state officials to jointly prepare a comprehensive case, in consultation with the representatives of the committee, to highlight the glaring discrepancies while formulating the compensation award for the farmers under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013.
The Chief Minister ruled out the possibility of referring such cases for arbitration as it would unnecessarily lead to inordinate delay in seeking justice for the farmers.
The police recovered a told of 19 vehicles including 12 motorcycles, 6 scooties, and one auto, from their possession. The accused persons of the first gang were identified as Mohit, Sachin and Gaurav, while the second gang members were identified as Wasin and Atul Raghav.
In addition to the existing flood-prone Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, extreme floods (water level above previous highest flood level) were seen in 10 more states, due to excess to large excess rainfall in these states combined with extremely heavy rainfall in short duration, the Parliament was told on Monday.
In his maiden speech after assuming charge here, Sidhu, who shared the stage with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh after a long break, also extended an olive branch to the protesting doctors, nurses, teachers and bus conductors, who have been on roads for their demands.
Addressing the media outside Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said, "Pegasus is classified by the Israeli State as a weapon and that weapon is supposed to be used against the terrorist. The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and Union Home Minister have used this weapon against the Indian State and against our institutions."
The numbers of key separatist leaders, politicians, human rights activists, journalists and business persons from Kashmir all figure in the snoop dragnet.
The accused has been identified as Manoj Kumar Prabhakar, a native of Bihar's Supaul district. According to the officials of the flying squad, they had received information about a man creating fake PAN, Aadhaar and voter cards to make money illegally.
