SAD to protest against land pooling policy from July 15

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday announced a series of protests, starting from Ludhiana on July 15, against the state government’s land pooling policy.

Addressing a press conference here, the SAD president said 40,000 acres of 158 villages would be acquired under the “land-grabbing scheme".

“The AAP Delhi leadership wants to collect Rs 10,000 crore for the party. This is the reason they have decided to acquire 40,000 acres across the state under the Punjab Regional Town Planning and Development Act, 1995, instead of the Central Land Acquisition Act, 2013,” he said.

Badal said while the Central Land Acquisition Act called for giving compensation four times the collector rate, besides a resettlement scheme, the 1995 Punjab Act allowed leeway to the AAP government to exclude land parcels from acquisition as well as lease, auction or allot the acquired land.

Asserting that this was being done to “collect Rs 10,000 crore in bribes”, Badal said the entire acquisition was being planned after holding meetings with builders of Delhi, who had given their requirement for land in various cities of Punjab to the AAP government.

“The government is now set to meet these requirements, be it exempting land from acquisition under Section 56 of the 1995 Punjab Act or allowing for auction, lease or allotment of land to favourites under Section 43 of the state Act," he said.

Punjab