Farmers consent needed for acquiring land in Punjab

Chandigarh, May 23: The Punjab Government has agreed in principle to approve the land acquisition policy under land pooling scheme for commercial, housing and industrial purposes and has made it clear that no land would be acquired for industrial use without the consent of the farmers.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high level meeting held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

"Regardless of other consideration, no land would be acquired without the consent of the farmers", Mr Badal said after the meeting. A significant clause of the proposed policy provides for a stake to the farmer in the development projects on the land acquired from them. The Chief Minister directed the Financial Commissioner Revenue to bring out a complete proposal in this regard in the next Cabinet meeting for final approval.

The Chief Minister also agreed to the proposal of the Secretary Housing and Urban Development to entrust the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) with the task for undertaking the land acquisition as it was well equipped with the trained staff and infrastructure for the pooling of land.

Taking part in the deliberations, Mr Badal said that the farmers whose land was acquisitioned would be given an option of either giving them adequate compensation or fixed share of developed land out of the total chunk of land acquired for any specified purpose.

Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Cooperation Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Advocate General H S Mattewal, Chief Secretary R I Singh, Financial Commissioner Romila Dubey, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister D S Guru, Secretary Housing and Urban Development Arun Goyal, Chief Administrator PUDA Som Nath and Administrator GAMADA Krishan Kumar.

UNI