CHANDIGARH: Farmers protesting the acquisition of land for the Kartarpur corridor by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) stopped their protest following assurance of adequate compensation by the government.
But what has become the talk of the town is a farmer donating 16.5 acres of land to the state government for the Kartarpur corridor project without any conditions.
Lakha Singh, former Sarpanch of Pakho-ke-Tahli village, near Dera Baba Nanak has donated his land without any conditions. The land is adjoining the zero line on the Indo-Pak international border where the corridor has to be constructed.
“I have given consent for 16.5 acres of my land to be acquired following the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and have kept no conditions as my land is at a strategic location,” said Singh.
With this acquisition, the NHAI has started four laning the 4.5 km road to the Indo-Pak border from Dera Baba Nanak.
Some farmers in the area called off their protest after the Punjab Cooperative and Jails Minister and Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa along with Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Gursimran Singh Dhillon, who has been designated as the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) by the NHAI, assured farmers that they will be adequately compensated and will not get one rupee less than the rate decided by the authorities.
Last November, India and Pakistan agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith’ founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district.
Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan’s Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.