The farmers of Mohali district are up in arms against the state Government for the alleged poor compensation being awarded to them,for the lands falling under the category of compulsory acquisition for the proposed six-lane expressway between Lalru and Baddi via Mohali. With the average compensation of 1,125 acres in 22 villages being worked out between Rs 20 and Rs 50 lakh per acre,the peasants have vowed not to accept anything less than Rs 1.5 crore per acre,which was awarded for 306 acres acquired for the international airport terminal building in Jheourheri village last year. On Friday,hundreds of affected farmers announced the formation of Lalru-Baddi Expressway Peedit Kissan Sangharsh Committee under the leadership of Gopal Singh. The panel decided not to do away with their lands without suitable compensation,and also threatened to launch a mass agitation if the government resorted to forcible acquisition. When Rs 1.5 crore per acre was awarded in the same district last year,how can the award be reduced to Rs 20 to Rs 50 lakh per acre, said a farmer. Kharar Congress MLA Balbir Sidhu announced the full support of his party to the cause of the farmers. The present government has planned the project against the interests of farmers in the area. I will not allow this and will do anything to thwart the nefarious designs of the SAD-BJP combine, Sidhu asserted. Deputy Commissioner P S Mand,who is the chairman of the District Land Price Fixation Committee,said,Every farmer across Punjab now wants land acquisition award at par with the Mohali airport land award. This is not possible. He said the panel will recommend the compensation award for the project as per the norms after taking into consideration the collectors rate,average rate at which land in the area was registered during the last one year and the prevailing market rates. The rates vary with villages. We can only make recommendations,the final decision will be taken by the State Land Acquisition Board, Mand said. The state Government had recently issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act to acquire land for the Rs 1,500-crore inter-state expressway project.
