Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal comes to the resuce of Punjabi farmers in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought the immediate intervention of his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi and National President of BJP Nitin Gadkari, to sort out the issue of legitimate ownership right of the Punjabi farmers over the agriculture land being ploughed by them for more than last three decades in Gujarat. Mr Badal said that the orders of collector of Kutch to freeze more than 1000 "Khedut Khatas" (agricultural accounts) of the Punjabi farmers was a complete injustice with these people who had developed this barren land into fertile one with their hard labour.

The chief minister said that he was peeved to learn that though a division bench of the Gujarat High Court headed by acting Chief Justice had already given a ruling in the favour of these farmers but now the Gujarat government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the High Court. "It is totally unfair as Gujarat was a homeland for these Punjabi farmers who had been practicising agriculture in state from past three decades and thus played a pivotal role in the progress of the state,"said the letter addressed to Modi and Gadkari.

Recently a 17-member delegation of Punjabi farmers from Bhuj and Kutch (Gujarat) led by Balwant Singh Ramoowalia spokesperson of Shriomani Akali Dal spokesperson had called on the Chief Minister , to apprise him that Gujarat government was uprooting them under the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha Region) Act. The farmers had urged Mr Badal to take up the issue with the Gujarat government so that their displacement could be avoided.