Not for sale

Okay, go ahead, build industries. But why at the cost of the precious, fertile, ancestral lands of farmers? Punjab’s farmers are unanimous—no SEZs on our land

Sandeep Yadav Chandigarh

Gurmukh Singh, 58, of Pandori Mehma, Amritsar, died of heart attack last month. Nothing abnormal, for people far younger are dying of heart attack these days. However, the abnormality lies in the reason that triggered the collapse of his heart. And therein lies the uncanny narrative of Punjab’s experiments with liberalisation.

Says Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu, Convenor, Kisan Sangharsh Committee (KSC), “The moment Gurmukh heard that his three acre land has come under the government notification to be acquired for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), he suffered a stroke. He was dead before any medical help could be provided.”

Gurmukh Singh, the proud Sikh farmer, could not accept the trauma and the taboo dogging rural Punjab across the landscape—of being suddenly landless, rootless, homeless, an agriculturist without an inch of land he could call his own.

Once again, tragedy is stalking the prosperous state of Punjab, and for all the wrong reasons. As if the suicides hundreds of farmers, especially in the Malwa region and rest of Punjab, were not enough, farmers have upped their ante against the forcible seizure of their land by the Amrinder Singh-led Congress government so as to create SEZs under

private monopoly. The Punjab government has issued a notification for the acquisition of 1,218 acres of fertile agricultural land in seven villages around Amritsar for the fast expanding Delhi Lease and Finance (DLF) Company, which is into lucrative real estate business. Ever since, the farmers, whose land is to be forcibly acquired, are crying foul. From rail roko in Amritsar to dharna at Matka Chowk in Chandigarh, angry farmers are up in arms.

The prime land for this SEZ on National Highway 1 lies in close proximity to the railway station. This is considered a precious geographical terrain that “just can’t be valued” in terms of standard market rates, locals say. But now, this land is being grabbed for a “measly” sum of Rs 8 lakh to 10 lakh per acre. The farmers not only don’t want to give away their ancestral land, they are also claiming that the market price of this prime property is Rs 60 lakh to 70 lakh per acre, even more, as real estate business booms.

The story is no different for the three villages of Barnala subdivision, in Sangrur district, where 376 acres of land, with the wheat crop ready for harvest, have been taken over by the Trident Group. There is intense resentment here. The farmers have not been allowed to harvest their crop. The area has already been fenced by the private company. Hundreds of farmers have refused to accept the compensation. Sukhdev Singh, General Secretary, Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta, questions the policy of doling out agricultural land for the SEZs. “This is an extremely fertile, double-crop land. I see no point in building factories on land that produces tonnes of wheat and rice,” he argues.

However, Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Punjab Government, follows a different, but predictable, logic. “Call it a curse or boon for Punjab, but there is no wasteland in the state. Since agriculture has reached stagnation point here, industrialisation is the only way out. And if we have to give impetus to industrialisation, then obviously, we need land,” explains Kumar.