Dear Editor,
It is a matter of grave concern that the owners of the land on which the ring and semi-ring road are to be constructed are stressed over the government’s non-payment of the pre-decided, guaranteed compensation of their lands according to the market price. According to the Land Acquisition Act of 2013, the government was supposed to provide four times the renumeration as compared to the lands market value to the owners, but, when it came to the implementation bit, the farmers got betrayed. As a result, farmers from Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, Samba, Baramulla, Bandipora and many other districts from the State are affected. Firstly, the government is forcibly expropriating the farmers’ fertile lands which is the only source for their survival, and if they are willingly giving it for the State’s development, then they should deservedly get the fair and rightful compensation from the authority. Atleast, the government should think over it or enact a new version of the given law, so that the farmers could reap some benefit in exchange of, literally, doing away with their sole means of livelihood.
Heena Tabassum
IIMC, Jammu