Amritsar May 18 – Hundreds of activists of farmers’ outfit Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMC) on Thursday squatted on a railway track and blocked rail traffic at Devidaspura village here over alleged inadequate compensation for the land acquired for the Bharatmala project.
Railway officials said incoming and outgoing trains running between Amritsar and Delhi were affected after 12.30 pm in the wake of the farmers’ protest.
They said all trains on this particular section here are being diverted.
KMC spokesperson Gurbachan Singh Chabba said the farmers are protesting on the compensation issue in connection with the acquisition of land for the Bharatmala project.
He said that the government was acquiring the land but not paying adequate compensation as desired by farmers.
The protest at Devidaspura, around 20 kilometres from here, was led by KMC leader Sarwan Singh Pandher.
Chabba also alleged that a woman farmer was slapped by a policeman in Gurdaspur district, accusing police of using force against protesting farmers.
“The highhanded attitude of the government and its police which applied force to uproot the farmers from their agriculture land is condemnable,” he said.
Chabba alleged that police cane charged farmers who were protesting peacefully against the government for acquiring their farmlands for the expansion/construction of the Delhi-Katra national highway.
He said the incident occurred at Cheema Khudi village in Gurdaspur.
When asked for how long the farmers will continue to block the railway traffic, Chabba said a series of meetings between the farmers’ outfit and the administration were going on and the final decision would be taken by evening.
KMC spokesperson Chabba said that there were seven points all over the Punjab where farmers squatted on railway tracks from 1.00 p.m onwards. He said Tarn Taran, Jallandhar Cantt, Gurdaspur, Ferozpur, Fazilka, Moga and Amritsar where farmers during protest interrupted rail traffic till evening today.
Later in the evening, in a statement to media, KMC leadership claimed that agricultural land which was forcible acquired by administration was released back to farmers.
KMC Punjab president Sukhwinder Singh Sabra and General secretary Ranbir Singh in a joint statement said that today’s massive protest of farmers brought the Punjab Government on back as Administration returned the agricultural land to the farmers in the Gurdaspur district.
They said during the comprehensive marathon meeting between farmers and State government employees which was attended by SSP Amritsar ( Rural) Satinder Singh, SDM Amritsar Mankawal Chahal at Devidaspura assured farmers that at the earliest possible arbitration camps to be organized in a time bound manner to sort out all such issues including land acquiring of farmers as per their consent .
A meeting between higher Government official including Principal Secretary to CM Venu Parsad and farmers has been fixed for May 24. Meanwhile, no Government officials would move ahead to acquire the agricultural land of farmers, they said.
