M A I N   N E W S

Thousands attend cremation of farmer who died at Mansa
Shariq Majeed/TNS

Hameedi (Barnala), August 3
Thousands of people here today attended the last rites of the farmer who was allegedly killed in the police lathi charge at Kot Dunna village last evening. The farmers were protesting against the acquisition of their land for a thermal plant at Gobindpura in Mansa.

The district administration has agreed to give Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the family of the deceased farmer, besides recommending a job for one member of the family.

The body of the farmer, Surjeet Singh of Hameedi village, was taken to the cremation ground in a procession by villagers and activists of 17 organisations of farmers and labourers.

Those participating in the procession raised slogans like “Kisano ki qatil Badal sarkar, murdabad murdabad”, Shaheed Surjeet Singh Hameedi ko laal salaam”. Addressing the gathering at the cremation ground, BKU (Ugrahan) senior vice-president Jhanda Singh Jaithokey said farmers would continue their fight against the Badal government against the “forcible” acquisition of farmers’ land. The sacrifice of Surjeet Singh Hameedi would not go waste, he added.

Sangrur MP Vijayinder Singla and Barnala MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon visited the home of the deceased farmer and also attended his last rites. They said, “We demand a judicial probe into the land acquisition at Gobindpura for the thermal plant, besides seeking a probe into the farmer’s killing.”

“As no open tenders were called for the Gobindpura thermal plant land, there may be some underhand deal between the private company and the Badal government. Why we (Congress leaders) and leaders of farmers’ and labourers’ organisations are not being allowed to go to the proposed site of the thermal plant in Mansa?” they said.

Meanwhile, the protesting farmers accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal of corruption in the land deal. They also criticised the Central Government for allegedly playing in the hands of private companies.

Initially, they stopped the district administration from getting the post-mortem examination conducted on Surjeet Singh’s body and staged a dharna at the grain market outside the SSP Office. The post-mortem examination could only be conducted in the afternoon after a compromise formula was worked out following an hour-long meeting between protesters and administration officials, including Barnala Deputy Commissioner Paramjeet Singh and SSP Gurpreet Singh Toor. The report of the post-mortem examination would be available in 2-3 weeks.

Deputy Commissioner Paramjeet Singh, who came to announce the compromise formula arrived at with farmers, said, “We will give Rs 5 lakh to the family of the deceased, recommend job for a member of the family and also recommend debt waiver for the family.”

Jhanda Singh Jaithokey, senior vice president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), alleged the Badal government had received kickbacks from the private company for acquiring land for the thermal plant.