S.S.Nagar: Senior Congress leader and former Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu has said that all preparations have been completed for the protest to be held in front of the GMADA headquarters tomorrow to demand the cancellation of the anti-farmer land pooling policy by the Congress party. He said that this protest will create a new history in terms of numbers.Mr. Sidhu said that the protest will be addressed by Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa along with party MPs and MLAs. He said that the new land pooling policy has created a tremendous wave of anger and resentment among the people. He further said that the people have realized that if this flawed policy is not repealed, they may have to lose their valuable lands without gaining anything.
The former minister said that after the government’s notification, there has been a ban on buying and selling of about 65,000 acres of land. He said that when no one can buy or sell this land, there is no point in the government saying that no farmer’s land will be taken without his consent. He said that the government is doing such propaganda to mislead the people, but people are well aware of this truth.
Mr. Sidhu said that the Punjab government intends to evade its responsibilities under the pro-farmer land acquisition law enacted by Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2013. Under this law, the government has to fulfill the responsibility of providing displacement allowance at one and a half times the market price and making arrangements for resettlement. He said that through this land pooling policy, the government wants to snatch lands from farmers and sell them to private companies without spending any money and without taking any responsibility so that the promises made by the freeloaders in the last year of its term can be fulfilled.
The Congress leader said that the Congress party will not allow this toy with the people and will continue the struggle until this anti-farmer policy is repealed.