3 min readAhmedabadAug 4, 2013 02:47 AM IST
First published on: Aug 4, 2013 at 02:47 AM IST
Over 2,000 Sikh farmers settled in Kutch are mobilising political support from outside the state to build pressure on the Narendra Modi government and to ensure that they are not evicted from the land they have been cultivating for several decades.
Sikh farmers,who first landed in this bordering district after 1965 India-Pak war,are now settled across Bhuj,Lakhpat,Abdasa,Mandvi and Anjar talukas,owning thousands of acres of agricultural land.
It is believed that they have converted large tracts of land in this arid zone into fertile agricultural tracts. They faced no problem till two years ago when the state government ordered “freezing” of their land under provisions of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act,1958,disabling them from selling,buying or taking any loan or subsidy on their land.
Subsequently,these farmers were not issued certified copies of their land records or what’s known in local revenue parlance,“7/12 utara”,a proof of their ownership of the land. It is on the basis of this document that farmers can sell or transfer their land or take loans and subsidy. The farmers fear that with this order,they may be denied water to their agricultural land by the local irrigation cooperative societies formed by the state government and thus,forcing them to vacate the land on their own.
The farmers challenged the order in the Gujarat High Court and the latter decided in their favour five months ago. Two months ago,the state government moved the Supreme Court.
Dharam Singh,a Sikh farmer from Lakhpat taluka,said that he and several others recently met Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Avtar Singh Makkar in this regard. He said that a delegation also called on the National Commission for Minorities to take up the matter with the state government.
NCM member Ajaib Singh reportedly took up the issue with the state government and urged the administration to withdraw the case. Singh said that nothing has happened so far as the provisions of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act,1958,was applicable in this case.
Chief Secretary Varesh Sinha refused to comment,saying the “matter is sub judice’’.
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