Buy land for AIIMS by Dec 31 or face stir: Rewari locals to government

Tribune News Service

Manethi (Rewari), December 19

The AIIMS Sangharsh Samiti has served a 12-day ultimatum on the state government not only to buy land for the much-awaited AIIMS project, but also to announce the date of laying its foundation stone by December 31.

Residents of 51 villages protest

• The AIIMS Sangharsh Samiti members staged a daylong dharna in Manethi village on Sunday to register their protest
• The samiti claimed representatives of 51 nearby villages attended the meeting and expressed their solidarity with its decisions
• “The government intends to drag the issue up to the next Assembly elections to seek votes. But we will not let it happen,” said samiti president Sheotaz Singh

It also resolved to organise three mahapanchayats in Dahina, Mundi and Ateli villages to gather public support in favour of their demands if the government failed to respond within the stipulated time. Another meeting of the samiti will be convened on January 2 to decide further course of action.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the samiti’s representatives after staging a daylong dharna in Manethi village on Sunday to register their protest. The samiti claimed representatives of 51 nearby villages attended the meeting and expressed their solidarity with its decisions.

“The state government intends to drag the issue up to the next Assembly elections so that it could seek votes from people of this region in the name of this issue. But we will not let the government linger on the execution of the project further. We are ready to launch agitation if the government doesn’t buy land of the farmers of Majra village where the project is to be implemented,” said Sheotaz Singh, president of the samiti.

He said farmers of Majra village had offered a total of 228 acres for the project several months ago and the government announced to buy it at Rs 40 lakh per acre, but the process had not been initiated, raising questions over the government’s intentions.

Rajendra Nimoth, spokesman for the samiti, said time had come to take a decision to get the project executed. “The Centre has already sanctioned the budget for the project and a central government committee, after conducting a survey, has also given a green signal for the implementation of the project. But the state government is not moving ahead, leading to acute resentment among people,” he added.

He said they would have no other option but to launch an agitation if the government did not initiate the process to buy land and announce the date of its foundation stone by December 31. Residents of Majra village had uploaded details of their land on the government portal several months ago.