Haryana farmers protest land acquisitions by DLF

Farmers allege land is being forcibly acquired by Huda for the DLF Pinjore-Kalka urban complex project

Farmers in Chandigarh are up in arms against the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda), alleging it has acted for private developers’ benefit in land alotment, ignoring the interests of farmers.

Even as the matter is pending with the Supreme Court, president of Shivalik Vikas Manch Vijay Bansal says he has written a letter to social- activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal, urging him to highlight the matter. In a letter to Kejriwal, Bansal has explained how the Haryana government flouted land norms in Panchkula to favour real estate developer DLF for its upcoming township project in the Pinjore-Kalka urban complex project. Bansal alleges the licence issued by the forest department for the upcoming project by DLF has overlooked all norms.

He said farmers protesting the licence and forcible acquisition of land had thronged the Punjab and Haryana High Court, following which stay order was granted. DLF challenged the stay order in the Supreme Court, which again granted stay in the case.

Farmers in Islam Nagar near Chandigarh allege their land is being forcibly acquired by Huda for the Pinjore-Kalka urban complex project. According to original plans, Huda wanted to carve out housing sectors in the acquired land, but now farmers allege the land forcibly acquired from farmers is being sold to private developers, including DLF.

In 2010, DLF announced the launch of the first phase, its integrated township project, DLF Valley, within the Panchkula-Master Plan area. The first phase was envisaged to be spread across one million sq ft (msf) out of the approximately 10 msf earmarked for the township project.

This, according to DLF, was the company’s biggest township project outside Gurgaon. However, the apex court had put a stay order on the construction earlier this year.