Auction of land reserved for SCS scrapped in another Sangrur village

DALITS PLAN TO PROTEST OUTSIDE CM’S RESIDENCE IN SANGRUR; AUCTION CANCELLED IN 11 VILLAGES OF DISTRICT SO FAR

SANGRUR: The auction of common panchayat land reserved for Dalits was cancelled at Balad Kalab village in Sangrur on Thursday. The Dalits demanded to take the land on lease for three years, but the administration said there is no such condition now.

Auctions of panchayat land reserved for Dalits have been cancelled at 11 villages in Sangrur so far. These include Badrukhan, Balwarh Kalan, Kular Khurad, Badal Kalan, Jhaloor, Kakrala, Surajpur, Fatehgarh Chhana, Herike and Kheri Chehal.

Dalits have given a call to protest outside Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s residence in Sangrur against the move.

President of the Zameen Prapti Sangharsh Committee Mukesh Malaud said they got the right to take common panchayat land on lease for three years in 2018.

However, this was done away with through a notification issued by the rural development and panchayats department on March 10 this year. Besides, there was no provision for an increase in the minimum auction price annually. But now, the department is increasing the minimum auction price by 5% to 20%, he said. “We met panchayats minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and he directed the department to restore all the conditions, but to no avail,” Malaud added. Varjeet Walia, ADC (development), said: “We are holding auctions as per rules and regulations.”

Restore SC rights: Jakhar

CHANDIGARH: Describing it as “highly reprehensible” decision, former member of Parliament Sunil Jakhar on Thursday demanded names of those behind the retrograde act of ending SC reservation from leasing of panchayati land rights to be made public.

Urging chief minister Bhagwant Mann to restore rights of the SC community, Jakhar, through his two tweets on the issue, demanded a similar provision ensuring such rights for poor/landless farm labourers of the general category.

Castigating those behind this decision to do away with such provisions as anti-poor, Jakhar sought clarity as to who actually initiated such a move, because there is some ambiguity as this happened on the day the regime changed.

“As notification taking away these (rights) was done on 10-32022, the question is – was it the last act of the previous regime or First Act of this regime? Which purported SC/ poor champion stands exposed?” he posted.