Farmer unions vow protests against land pooling policy

Punjab’s farmer unions have decided to oppose the land pooling initiative of the state government, claiming that the policy of monetising Punjab’s land to earn revenue would displace farmers en masse.

The unions, which are constituents of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), have decided to first convene an all-outfit meeting at Chandigarh on July 18 to discuss the issue and then hold “flag marches” on July 30. The flag marches will be organised in villages where the government wants to acquire land under the newly launched land pooling policy, for setting up residential, commercial and industrial projects.

Various forums, including the SKM, SKM (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), are now thinking of launching a joint protest against the policy.

Sarwan Singh Pandher of the KMM told The Tribune that they were left with no option but to join hands, or risk losing Punjab’s fertile farmland to rapid urbanisation and/or industrialisation. “We are in talks to fight unitedly against the policy,” he said.

After participating in a meeting of representatives of constituent unions of the SKM here on Sunday, Harinder Singh Lakhowal of the BKU (Lakhowal) said the policy was “anti-farmer” and meant to displace them from their fertile land to arid or brackish land.

“Though the government claims it will give a compensation of Rs 30,000 per annum per acre for three years when the land is given under land pooling policy, it is an accepted fact that it takes 10-15 years for land development. So, for the remaining seven to 12 years, till the land is developed, the farmer will neither get compensation nor the allowance,” he said.

It may be mentioned that after announcing the land pooling policy last month, the government has already notified areas to be developed under the scheme in various parts of the state. There have been protests by farmers in both Ludhiana and Mohali against the implementation of the policy. The policy was first introduced in Punjab during the SAD-BJP regime, but only in Mohali. It has now been extended to the entire state.

A senior government official, however, said the land to be developed would not take more than three years and farmers were not being forced to opt for the scheme.

“Moreover, the letter of intent (LoI) will be given to farmers after they apply for land pooling. This itself can be monetised and farmers can sell the LoI for residential and commercial plots to be offered to them for the land they give under the policy,” he said. There were no protests when land pooling was introduced for developing four urban estates in Mohali earlier, he said.

Jangvir Singh Chouhan of the Doaba Kisan Committee said the farmers, as seen in the case of land pooling in Mohali, get the residential and commercial sites at the worst location in the newly developed urban estates. “As a result, the value of their plots and commercial sites is much less,” he said, adding that all farmer unions have decided to launch a drive against the policy.

Punjab