Bathinda (Punjab), Aug 4 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Monday alleged that 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 to them at throwaway prices in Punjab to fund AAP’s upcoming election campaigns across the country.
Addressing a sit-in protest which saw massive attendance in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here, Badal said: “We will not allow an 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 We will continue out agitation till the land pooling scheme is not withdrawn.”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 were being forced to pay for the AAP’s expansion plans, he 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.
Badal said the duo along with others from Delhi had taken over the reins of the state and were bent “on milking it dry”.
Asserting that the Akali Dal would not allow the five-member committee headed by the Chief Secretary to oversee all land acquisitions in the state to function, 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.
The Akali Dal chief also made it clear that it was the farmers who would suffer the most.
“Only 11,000 acres have been acquired in Punjab in the last 25 years out of which 3,000 acres is yet to be developed. Similarly, only 28,000 acres of land was acquired to establish Chandigarh 75 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, Badal said “this should be turned into a mass movement”.
He also spoke on how the Akali Dal 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.
–IANS
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