LUDHIANA: Lashing out at the Akali-BJP government in the state for either not passing on the benefit of various people friendly laws enacted by the UPA government at the centre to the people of Punjab or packaging and presenting various welfare schemes as its own, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today said its (government’s) intent to deny the benefit of the new Land Acquisition law to the farmers of nine Ludhiana villages was a classic example.
The minister warned the Punjab government against circumventing the farmer-friendly Land Acquisition Act by trying to forcibly acquire the farmers’ land in nine Ludhiana villages under the archaic 1894 act, which stands repealed. “I won’t let you build your castles after devastating the farmers by forcibly acquiring their land”, the minister warned the state government.
Addressing a series of workers’ meetings in the Dakha assembly segment organised by former MLA Jasbir Singh Jassi Khangura, Tewari said, it was shocking to learn that the Akali government that otherwise claims to be pro-farmer and farmer-friendly has decided to acquire the land of the farmers under a 120 year old act when new law has been enacted in the parliament recently.
“Let us not forget that the 1894 act was enacted by the Imperial British and was aimed at snatching away the farmers’ land in India”, he pointed out, while expressing surprise as how could the Punjab government in a free India resort to imperial laws knowing well the new law, which watched the interests of the farmers, was already in force, while the old law was against the farmers.
Tewari said, when he spoke to the state government officials as why was the farmers’ land being acquired under old law, he was told that the law will come into force in the state from January 2014. He said, even if it was so, why cannot state government wait for a month more and issue acquisition notices under new law so that the farmers’ interests are safeguarded. “But the government’s intentions are not genuine as it does not want to provide benefit to the farmers as it wants to snatch their land for peanuts and hence it hasted through the acquisition notices which will be consigned to the flames”, he asserted.
The Minister said, while on the one hand it was denying the farmers the benefit of the new central law, on the other hand it was presenting various welfare schemes like the Food Security Act, Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojana and other similar schemes as its own. “You can befool some people sometimes, but you cannot befool all the people all the time”, Tewari told the Akali-BJP government saying the people were aware and informed as who was doing what. “They will have to run for the cover in the coming parliamentary elections”, he said, adding, Congress was set to sweep all the 13 seats in Punjab this time. Gurdeep Singh Bhaini, Pawan Dewan, Major Singh Mullanpur, Bhajan Singh Detwal, Telu Ram Bansal, Manjeet Singh Bharowal, Kartinderpal Singh Singhpura were also present on the occasion.