Double fence blocks Punjab farmers from cultivating their own land

Raniyan Sector (Indo-Pak border), Feb 27 : The erection of double fencing along the India-Pakistan border in Chugawn Block of Punjab is preventing farmers of the area from cultivating and harvesting their own land.

Earlier, the zig-zag fencing along the border and the restriction of movement by the Border Security force posed problems to farmers, but now they feel double fencing will force them to migrate to other places.

According to one estimate, over 2200 acres of land falling under the jurisdiction of the Raniyan and Kakkar villages falls between the two border fences developed by India.

Khazan Singh, a 70-year-old farmer of Raniyan Village said even after sixty years of the Independence "we are still living like slaves."

Jasbir Singh, another farmer of the same village, said that the Government had practically cut him off from nearly 40 acres of highly fertile ancestral land by double fencing at the border.

Lakhwinder Singh, a farmer of Manjhgaon Village, said that since independence residents of border villages have faced a number of problems.

Admitting that farmers were facing problems, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner K S Pannu said: "We have been trying to minimize their problems, and have written to the Central Government. We have also requested the BSF to dismantle the one of the double fences." By Ravinder Singh Robin

ANI