Farmers protest against Trident in Punjab

Barnala, Jan 31: The police resorted to firing in air to disperse a large crowd of farmers protesting against the acquiring of agricultural land by the Trident Group at Fategarh Chana village in the district today.

According to official reports here, the police intially appealed to a crowd of about 10,000 farmers, including women, not to defy prohibitory orders imposed in the village by the District Magistrate a couple of months back. However, the agitators confronted the cops, as a result the Sub-Divisional Margistrate (SDM) on the spot gave the firing orders.

No casualties had been reported so far. The situation in the village was described as tense but under control.

For the last one year, farmers belonging to various 'kisan' groups had been holding a number of rallies at the village to protest against the takeover of agricultural land by Trident. The state government on the other hand described the protests as illogical as the farmers whose land Trident had acquired had been compensated by the company and were paid the market rate.

In Amritsar district too, the farmers had launched an agitation against the setting up of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on agricultural land near Manawal village. The state government in its revised acquisition policy had already declared that farmers would be paid the market price for their acquired land and a company involved in executing any industrial project in Punjab would negotiate directly with the land owners.

UNI