Corridor land: Farmers look for four-fold compensation

  • | Thursday | 24th January, 2019

The proposed ICP at Dera Baba Nanak was yet to be notified, he added. Narinder Singh, a Dera Baba Nanak resident, said: “We were not allowed to meet the LPAI team so we staged a dharna. Once we give our land, we will be landless farmers. We are not sure whose land would be acquired for the corridor, but we want the compensation to be at least three times the cost of our land.”Jamhuri Kissan Sabha, Gurdaspur general secretary Balwinder Singh said they wouldn’t settle for anything less than four-times the cost of land. GURDASPUR: The Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) has sought acquisition of 50 acres of land in Dera Baba Nanak for an integrated check post (ICP) to be set up along the proposed Kartarpur corridor LPAI chairman Anil Kumar Bamba, who was visiting the area on Wednesday to inspect land for the ICP, told TOI: "There will be an ICP at Dera Baba Nanak to facilitate cross-border movement of the passengers (devotees).

GURDASPUR: The Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) has sought acquisition of 50 acres of land in Dera Baba Nanak for an integrated check post (ICP) to be set up along the proposed Kartarpur corridor LPAI chairman Anil Kumar Bamba, who was visiting the area on Wednesday to inspect land for the ICP, told TOI: "There will be an ICP at Dera Baba Nanak to facilitate cross-border movement of the passengers (devotees)."The district administration along with the National Highways Authority of India will identify land for the ICP and then issue a notification for the land acquisition process in three villages - Jaurian Khurd Chandu Nangal and Pakhoke, Dera Baba Nanak sub-divisional magistrate Ashok Kumar , who is also land acquisition collector, said.The acquisition of land for widening of road to the 'Darshan Sthal', construction of the Kartarpur corridor and the ICP has led to a lot of expectations and farmers in these three villages want to be paid at least four times the current price for their land. They also want a government job for a family member and compensation for standing crops and tubewell connections.A farmer, Ranjit Singh, told TOI the current rate for land along the road is around Rs 60 lakh per acre, but said they would demand at least Rs 2.4 crore per acre from the government.SDM Ashok Kumar, however, said the government would only give compensation to the farmers as per law.A group of five dozen farmers resorted to a sit-in protest during the LPAI team’s visit to Dera Baba Nanak. Narinder Singh, a Dera Baba Nanak resident, said: “We were not allowed to meet the LPAI team so we staged a dharna. We are not sure whose land would be acquired for the corridor, but we want the compensation to be at least three times the cost of our land.”Jamhuri Kissan Sabha, Gurdaspur general secretary Balwinder Singh said they wouldn’t settle for anything less than four-times the cost of land. Close to the border, the rate for land is around Rs 20 lakh per acre so the farmer owning that land should be given Rs 80 lakh and a government job to a member of his family, he added.Another farmer, Kashmir Singh, said: “You know how close a farmer is to his land, it’s like our mother. Once we give our land, we will be landless farmers. So we want the government to give us adequate compensation and we are ready for a long-drawn agitation.”Of 13 ICPs mooted by the Centre on Indian borders with Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, six ICPs are already functional, according to LPAI manager Sukhdev Singh at ICP Attari. The proposed ICP at Dera Baba Nanak was yet to be notified, he added. The ICP at Dera Baba Nanak would facilitate movement of the devotees visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan.The proposed ICP will be only for passenger facilitation and will have facilities such as immigration, customs, bank, rest rooms, baggage trolleys, basic medical facilities and parking under one roof.

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