Eviction of Sikhs: Punjab to send fact-finding team to MP

Amid reports of eviction faced by 500 Sikhs from a scheduled tribe block in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday decided to send a fact-finding team to ascertain facts and ensure that the evacuees are not rendered homeless or harassed.

The Punjab chief minister has conveyed the decision to his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Kamal Nath, with whom he spoke over the telephone to discuss the issue,an official release said here.

The delegation will be led by Punjab Revenue Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar and MLAs Kuldpeep Vaid and Harminder Singh Gill.

During his conversation with Kamal Nath, the Punjab CM requested to make alternate arrangements for the settlement of the Sikhs.

If it was not possible to rehabilitate them in the same area where they had been living for the past two decades due to tribal land protections and laws, then alternate land should be provided for their resettlement, Amarinder told the Madhya Pradesh CM.

Kamal Nath assured Amarinder that his government would do everything possible to ensure that the Sikhs get their due and were not subjected to any harassment, the release said.

The issue has cropped up as a result of the MP government's drive against encroachments.

The MP government says these Sikhs had been illegal occupants of land in the notified tribal block of Karahal tehsil in Sheopur district.

But the Sikhs, originally hailing from Punjab and Haryana, have denied the charges, saying they had purchased the land back in the 1990s.