Alleges, Builders to fund AAP’s election campaigns across the country
BATHINDA: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Convener Arvind Kejriwal had done an underhand deal worth Rs 30, 000 crore with Delhi builders to hand over 65, 000 acres of land to them at throwaway prices in Punjab to fund AAP’s upcoming election campaigns across the country.
Addressing a historic ‘dharna’ which witnessed massive attendance of both party cadre and farmers in front of the deputy commissioner’s office here, the SAD president said “we will not allow once inch of land to be acquired under the AAP government’s ‘Land Grabbing Scheme’. We will continue out agitation till the land pooling scheme is not withdrawn”.
Stating that farmers of Punjab were being forced to pay for the AAP’s expansion plans, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “Kejriwal has virtually shifted to Punjab and has made the Markfed office in Mohali his residence”. He said similarly AAP Delhi leader Manish Sisodia had been given a residence next to that of chief minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh to facilitate the loot of Punjab”. He said this duo along with others from Delhi had taken over the reins of the State and were bent on milking it dry.
Asserting that the SAD would not allow the five member Committee headed by the chief secretary to oversee all land acquisitions in the State to function, Mr Badal said “we will not allow this Committee which is packed with four outsiders to enter Punjab”. He also asked the chief secretary not to become party to the illegal acquisition process which was not following the 2013 central act on acquisition but had instead decided to acquire land as per a State Act of 1995 which discriminated against farmers.
Mr Badal also made it clear that it was the farmers who would suffer the most. “Only 11, 000 acres of land have been acquired in Punjab in the last twenty five years out of which 3, 000 acres is yet to be developed. Similarly only 28, 000 acres of land was acquired to establish Chandigarh seventy five years back out of which 8, 000 acres is still vacant. How can the AAP government think it will be able to develop 44, 000 acres with 24, 000 acres in Ludhiana alone?” he asked adding farmers would face long years of waiting for development of their land which would not only destroy them but also the agri-economy of the areas where acquisition would be done.
Stating that some village panchayats had already taken the lead by passing resolutions asserting they did not want their land to be acquired, Mr Badal said “this should be turned into a mass movement”. He also spoke on how the SAD would come out with a policy when it formed a government in the State in 2027 under which outsiders would not be allowed to buy land in the State. “Similarly government jobs will also be restricted to Punjabi youth only”. He also asserted that the next SAD government would invite new industry into the State but make it mandatory for the industry to give employment to at least 80 per cent Punjabis in their establishments.