Pb Cong to gherao state Assembly on land bill on Mar 24

Punjab Congress would gherao the state Assembly currently in session on March 24 to protest against the "dilution" of the land acquisition legislation by the Centre in which Shiromani Akali Dal is an ally.
Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa said that the programme had been finalised in consultation with Shakeel Ahmed, General Secretary AICC and Incharge Punjab Affairs, Harish Chaudhary, Secretary AICC and Incharge Punjab Affairs and Sunil Jakhar, CLP Leader.
"All the sitting MPs, MLAs, candidates, office bearers and heads of frontal organisation and cells of PPCC have been asked to mobilise the workers for the protest," Bajwa said in a statement here.

He said farmers all over the country were agitated against this "pernicious" move of the Narendra Modi government to "appease the corporates".
"It was the UPA that had brought out the land legislation to protect the interests of the farmers but the same had been diluted by this anti-farmer government," he said.
He flayed the Akali Dal for supporting the bill in the Lok Sabha which had exposed "hollow claims" of the party being the champion of the farmers.

He said another issue was the fixing the prices on the basis of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations according to which the farmers should get at least 50 per cent profit over and above the cost of inputs.

He said it was also the poll promise of the BJP from which the party had backtracked after coming to power.
Bajwa listed the proposed unbundling of the Food Corporation of India as the third major step of this government against the farmers.
The BJP government would not be allowed to "play with the future" of farming community in the country as more than 60 per cent of the population in the country was depended upon agriculture, he said.