Land pooling policy: BJP delegation meets Guv; Chugh says won't allow 'dacoity' of farmers' land

A BJP delegation met Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria at the Raj Bhavan here on Friday and sought cancellation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's land pooling policy, which it called ''illegal and unconstitutional''.

The delegation, led by BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh and party's Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar, asserted that the saffron party would not allow acquisition of an inch of farmers' land.

The Punjab Cabinet had last month given its nod to the land pooling policy and asserted that not even a single yard will be forcibly acquired from land owners.

The AAP government has been facing flak from the opposition BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) over this policy.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the governor, Chugh alleged that the Punjab government under the land pooling policy intended to ''grab'' thousands of acres of the fertile land of farmers to strengthen the hands of the ''land mafia'' at the behest of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.

Calling the land pooling policy ''illegal and unconstitutional'', Chugh said the BJP will now allow ''dacoity'' of farmers' land at any cost and added his party will hold protests against it.

The BJP leader alleged that Kejriwal has ''hijacked'' Punjab's democratically elected government and is running the Bhagwant Mann government ''like a puppet to benefit land mafias and his close associates''.

Echoing similar sentiments, Jakhar claimed that the land pooling policy has not yet framed any rules or regulations, making it unclear how severe the next phase of this ''loot'' will be.

He warned that the BJP would also approach the courts against this ''unconstitutional land grab''.

Jakhar said while the land notification may show the farmer's name on paper, in reality a farmer cannot sell the land or even take loans against it.

Calling the AAP government's move a ''daylight robbery of farmers' rights'', he alleged that the land pooling policy has been introduced only to ''grab'' land from farmers and ''distribute it among the ruling party's favourites''.

The BJP leader pointed out that under the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, consent from 80 per cent of farmers is mandatory and land can only be acquired for roads and national security purposes.

However, the Punjab government is acquiring thousands of acres illegally, which is a blatant injustice to farmers, he alleged.

Jakhar said the delegation comprised representatives from 35 villages, who submitted panchayat resolutions from 22 villages and affidavits from 625 farmers to the governor.

He said that even land allotted to the families of martyred soldiers is now being snatched away by the government.

Jakhar highlighted that urbanization in the last 60 years occurred only on 6,000 acres around Ludhiana, but the government is now suddenly acquiring six times more land without any logical justification.

Under the land pooling policy, a land owner will be given a 1,000 square yards of residential plot and a 200 square yards of commercial plot in fully developed land in lieu of one acre of land, the state government had said earlier.

It had also said that the land pooling policy was designed to foster transparent and planned urban development across the state.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)