Baba Bakala (Amritsar), Aug 9 (PTI) SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday said if his party returns to power in Punjab, it will return all land acquired by the AAP government under its land pooling policy to the farmers, just like it returned land acquired for the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal to them in 2016.
Addressing an event on the occasion of ‘Rakhar Punya’ (Raksha Bandhan) here, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief said, “We can sacrifice our lives but we will not allow even one inch of land to be forcibly acquired from the farmers.
“It is for this reason that we are launching the ‘Jameen Bachao – Punjab Bachao Morcha’ on September 1, which will hold an indefinite march every day in Mohali.” Badal claimed that unlike the previous SAD governments, which always gave adequate compensation for land acquisition for important projects, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal intends to “grab fertile farm lands for peanuts, and hand them over to builders from Delhi as part of a Rs 30,000 crore underhand deal”.
Farmers across 65,000 acres of land being acquired are already facing problems with all the registry and even change of land use processes stalled in the state, he alleged.
Claiming that SAD always stood for safeguarding the rights of Punjabis, Badal said, “If we form the government in 2027, we will ban outsiders from purchasing land in Punjab.
“We will also ensure that government jobs are given to Punjabis only, and all new companies recruit as much as 80 per cent Punjabi employees.” He also announced that the ‘Atta-Daal’ and ‘Shagun’ schemes would be restarted and the old-age pension would be hiked if SAD returns to power in the state.
Claiming that a “defamation” campaign led to SAD’s ouster in the 2017 Punjab polls, Badal said the AAP and the Congress were together in defaming the Akali Dal.
The SAD chief also condemned the AAP government for “suppressing the voice of dissent” by registering a “false” case against party leader Bikram Singh Majithia.
After the AAP government “failed” to produce a challan against Majithja in an earlier drugs case, it filed another “false” case of disproportionate assets, Badal alleged.
He also accused the state police of harassing Akali workers in the Majha region in a desperate bid to implicate Majithja in further cases.
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami, Akali leaders Gulzar Singh Ranike, Daljit Singh Cheema, and Sucha Singh Langah, were present on the occasion. PTI JMS CHS ARI
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