Ropar farmers oppose land acquisition for road project

Ropar, February 26

Farmers of several villages in the district today opposed acquisition of their land for the proposed Bheora-Ludhiana road project. They said the new project would block the access to their fields permanently and also lead to flooding of their land during rains.

The protesting farmers initially held a meeting at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Park and later handed over a memorandum to the District Revenue Officer-cum-Competent Authority for the land acquisition, Jaswant Singh.

The proposed project includes development of access controlled Ludhiana-Ropar Greenfield Highway starting from Delhi-Katra Expressway (NE-5) near Manewal and terminating on NH-205 at Ropar near Bheora village. A total of Rs 2,792 crore will be spent on the 110-km project. The project, on completion, will reduce travel time between Ludhiana and Chandigarh to less than one hour. The travel time between Chandigarh-Amritsar will also reduce substantially.

A 110-km road will pass through areas of Ludhiana, Jagraon, Payal, Chamkaur

Sahib, Ropar, Kharar and Mohali for which 793 hectares of land will be acquired out of which 737 hectares belongs to private parties, including farmers.

The protesting farmers said the proposed road would pass through 76 villages of Ropar district and they would not allow acquisition of their land till the Centre repeals the three controversial farm laws.

The farmers claimed that land meant for the new road and bridges would be elevated due to which their fields would be flooded during rainy season. — TNS