Panchayat members said that they got to know about park’s news only a few days back. (Express Photo: Anju Agnihotri Chaba)
Months after giving consent to Punjab government for using panchayat land for industrial park close to the Mattewara forest, the gram sabha of Sekhowal village passed resolution Wednesday saying that they don’t want to give 407 acres of land of their village for this project.
Village Sarpanch Amrik Kaur said that she was asked to come to DC office more than four months ago where she had signed on papers when Block Development Programme Officer (BDPO), Mangat block, had told her that something is being done for the benefit of the village. Kaur and other panchayat members said that they got to know about park’s news only a few days back. Now, the panchayat has passed a resolution that it doesn’t want to give 407 acres land of the village for this project. Balbir Singh, who noted all the proceedings of meeting, said that BDPO and panchayat secretary were also called for this meeting but they never came.
The announcement about industrial park was done on February 29 this year in Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal’s Budget speech, but the villagers never raised any issue over park at that time.
Sources from the Forest Department also revealed that their team had done a survey in villages and even at that time Sekhowal never raised any objection.
However, in the recent days, Sekhowal, Mattewara, Haider Nagar villages have been repeatedly visited by NGOs and politicians. AAP MLA Sarabjit Kaur Manuke, Independent MLA Simarjit Singh Bains visited Sekhowal village last week.
Dheera Singh, former sarpanch of Sekhowal, said, “The sarpanch could not understand the details and hence she signed on consent letter. She was not even informed by BDPO about this, so we have now raised an objection over it. Our village has no land of its own and we do farming on panchayat land only. If this land will be taken away, what will be our occupation afterwards.”
Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, Varinder Kumar Sharma, when asked about Sekhowal village panchayat’s resolution, said,” I am not aware of any such move. However, earlier panchayat had given its consent. It (the matter) was part of Budget speech, and has now been passed by the Cabinet. It needs to be seen at which level the project file has reached. I was not in Ludhiana at that time when this project file was made.”
The industrial park has to come up on 1,000 acres of area near Mattewara forest range and green activists are protesting against this move. They have even complained to NGT over this and have sought their intervention with a plea that it can disturb ecology of the area. Industrial body Chamber of industrial and commercial undertakings have however supported this project.