JAMMU: DDC Member Suchetgarh, Taranjit Singh Tony and Sarpanch Gurdyal Singh Soni were arrested for protesting in favour of families hit by Gharana wetland development as the civil administration started fencing of land chunks in possession of farmers despite High Court’s status quo order.
While protesting against the highhandedness of the administration which made a bid to encroach the land in possession of farmers through fencing exercise, dishonouring the status quo order given by a double bench of the High Court, Tony said that he will fight till his last breath to protect the rights of the farmers affected by this discriminatory action of the civil administration. He said that the UT’s administration is acting arbitrarily without honouring the law of the land as entire UT machinery including civil administration and police has despicably violated the court order by forcefully trespassing into the land chunks of farmers and starting fencing.
While demanding the development of the aforesaid bird sanctuary, which is home to thousands of migratory birds hailing from central Asia and parts of Europe, the DDC Chairman has demanded that adequate compensation should be given to the farmers whose land chunks will come under this project. He has appealed to LG’s administration that the land swapping could be done to provide justice to the farmers affected by this project and one member of their families should be given a Government job. Tony however said that instead of delivering justice, the Government has taken the arbitrary route of encroaching upon the land of farmers by using undue force, which will not be tolerated come what may.
“The law of the land says that in case of emergency, if the government has to acquire the land, 80 per cent of the compensation should have been paid to the people whose land in question. And in this particular case not a single penny has been paid,” Tony added. Later considering the gravity of the situation, the administration has invited Tony and affected farmers to hold talks on the issue at the office of the Divisional Commissioner Jammu.
Meanwhile, according to police spokesman, the inhabitants of village Gharana held a protest at Daljeet Chowk RS Pura over the dispute of land encroachment at Gharana Wetland. “The accused persons namely Mittal Kumar, son of Des Raj, Nirmal Singh, son of Daleep Singh, Sushma Kumari, wife of Subash Choudhary and Vishav Choudhary, all residents of Gharana tehsil Suchetgarh district Jammu along with some other residents were protesting over the said dispute and also closed the road traffic movement”, the spokesman said.
“When police party reached on the spot and tried to solve the matter, the said accused persons started pelting stones, obstruct cops from performing their duties and as a result some police officials also got injured”, the spokesman said, adding that a case under FIR Number 226/2021 under Sections 341, 353, 332, 336, 147, 148 and 149 IPC has been registered at Police Station RS Pura and investigation started.
