BATHINDA: Farmers' yearlong protest against land acquisition for widening of the Bathinda-Dabwali road turned aggressive on Saturday when they tried to break through the police cordon to stop the clearing of roadside trees.
About a year ago, the government acquired 200 acres in a 35-kilometre stretch and paid the owners a varying amount of compensation from the land acquisition award of Rs 150 crore. The acquired land was classified as commercial and agricultural and Rs 100 crore was transferred to the accounts of land owners, more than 100 of whom declined to accept the compensation and began a protest.
The district administration claims that if the work doesn't begin, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) can scrap the project, in which case those who have accepted the compensation will have to return the money with interest.
On Saturday, farmers from the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) came there on tractors and push the police barricades back before being stopped. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) Sangat block president Kulwant Sharma said: "The compensation was Rs 70 lakh an acre for the commercial land and Rs 24 lakh for the agricultural land, while we demand more than Rs 1 crore for commercial land and Rs 70 lakh for agricultural land."
Confronted, Bathinda deputy commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray said: "More than 75% of the landowners have accepted the compensation, only a few farmers are delaying the project."
