Residents irked by land acquisition notices, CM not meeting them
Irked by land acquisition notices sent to them by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), residents of Durali village in Mohali have announced a ban on the entry of government and GMADA officials from Sunday. Villagers raised slogans at a large gathering and pasted notices to announce the imposition of the ban. They set land acquisition notices sent by GMADA on fire and stuck flex boards on the walls of government school and other public places to enforce the ban.
Puadh Insaaf Morcha leaders Makhan Singh Gigemajra, Kamaljit Singh Badi, Malkit Singh Durali, Jagdeep Singh, Ranveer Singh, Gurmeet Singh (all panches) said they had been struggling for the last five to six months but GMADA and the government had not listened to any of their demands.
“Recently, we also went to meet Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, who had come for a Lok Milni to Saneta, but were not allowed to enter the programme,” they added. They said they had submitted a memorandum to local MLA Kulwant Singh and higher officials of GMADA but had not been heard.
The villagers claimed 249 acres of their land in Sector 101 of Mohali had already been acquired by GMADA for an industrial park. “Now, another 129 acres of land is being acquired in Sector 101, while 141 acres of land is being acquired in Sector 103. All this land is also being acquired for an industrial park. Setting up of factories in the entire area around the village will have a negative impact on the health and environment of villagers and we cannot allow all our land to be used for industrial purposes at any cost,” they added.
“We have been demanding that the 270 acres of land which is to be acquired be converted to a residential area instead of an industrial one, but no one is paying attention to us,” they said, calling for the immediate withdrawal of the notices sent by PUDA and GMADA to acquire their lands.
Puadh Insaaf Morcha leaders said a meeting had been called in Badhi village at 4 pm on May 11 to chalk up a strategy to stop the acquisition of village lands.
