Punjab: SEZ on Fertile Farm Land Irks Farmers

SEZ has indeed become synonymous with controversies and adding another chapter to the already long list of controversies is the fertile land of Jeetha village near Amritsar in Punjab. The farmers are reluctant to sell their fertile land and have swords hanging above their heads with no clarity about the whole issue.

The government wants the land for a Special Economic Zone but farmers who stand to lose everything are resisting. The government has given its notification for the acquisition of 1218 acres of land, 10 kms from Amritsar. But the rates offered by the government are nowhere close to those of the market.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his trip to Punjab had announced the formation of This SEZ near Amritsar which has forced government to annex farmer's land using section 4 of the SEZ act. Meanwhile Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh differs with the farmer’s version and has says that his government is not acquiring any land for SEZ under section 4 or section 6. Although he admits that in Amritsar his government had issued notification because it was the PM's commitment but it has been withdrawn since then. DLF who is the promoter, will now have to acquire it on its own.

Jeetha stands to lose 400 acres of its most fertile land, land that gives it three crops a year. Despite instruction from the commerce ministry that such fertile agricultural land cannot be acquired for Special Economic Zone, there is very little clarity on the ground or even compliance.

The Commerce ministry says wasteland should be acquired for SEZ and double-cropped land should be restricted to 10 per cent. However, in Amritsar, nearly 100 % of the acquired land is agricultural which is why the resistance is growing.

The farmers are being forced to leave their lands promising jobs in the concrete SEZ jungle but what the government fails to realize is that these farmers are already self sufficient and are in a way also helping feed others in the country.