Shiromani Akali Dal protests against Trident's land acquisition

The Trident Group's acquisition of the land of 125 farming families to invest Rs 2,000 crore is on the agenda of Shiromani Akali Dal President Parkash Singh Badal's "save farmers" rally, being organised by the party at Barnala tomorrow.

Speaking to Business Standard, Daljit Singh Cheema, Shiromani Akali Dal secretary, said Badal would address a rally at Barnala to protest against the decision of the state government to allot 376 acres of agricultural land of farmers of three villages""Sanghera, Fatehgarh Chhanna and Dhaula, in the Sangrur district""to the Trident Group of industries.

"We expect to mobilise 100,000 workers and party leaders for the rally and will also object to the state government's policy of selling panchayat land, mandi board land, and even the land of the Punjab Small Industry Export Corporation to the Reliance group in the Sangrur area," said Cheema.

Terming the new development beneficial for the farming community in the region, Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, general secretary, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) said that with the foray of the opposition party the morale of the farmers had increased. he further added, "these activities will be noticed by people at the helm and justice is given to the farmers."

On their part the activists from the eight farmer assocoiation which are : Association of Punjab Kisan Sangharsh,Punjab Kisan Union,Punjab Kisan Sabha, Bhartiya Kisan union (Kranti Kari), Jambhoori Kisan Sabha, Bhartiya Kisan union (Ekta-Ugrahan), Bhartiya Kisan Union (Sidhupur) and Kisan Vikas Front are going to stage a state wide tarffic jam on 12th May in the wee hours of the afternoon(12-2 p.m). This would be followed by a state level rally at barnala on 23rd May.

Lending support to the farmers cause is a Punjab based theatre group which has come up with a play, Ujjre Gharan dee Dastan, which makes a comment on the ongoing land acquisition process undertaken by the state government in Barnala for the Trident Group of Industries. This play has already been staged in Talwandi Sabo and will be staged in Ludhiana today.