DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora on Thursday hit out at the opposition parties for spreading misleading propaganda against the state government's land pooling policy, which he described as "farmers-friendly". He trashed the opposition parties' that claim that the state government wanted to "rob" farmers of their fertile land through the land pooling scheme. Addressing the mediapersons here, Arora lashed out at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), BJP and the Congress for opposing the land pooling policy, saying they are trying to mislead people for their vested interests. "They are levelling allegations against the state government that it will grab farmers' land and these accusations are completely baseless," he said. The minister said that the former SAD-BJP government in the past had prepared master plans for several cities for orderly development of the areas. "Under these master plans, the same place, which we have notified for development, had been declared residential zones by the then governments," Arora said.

"When they were in power, they did something else and now when they are in opposition, their stand is completely different," he added.

He accused the previous governments of patronising developers for setting up illegal colonies in the state.

Calling the AAP government's land pooling policy "farmers-friendly" and "development oriented", Arora said the state government is asking the landowners to join hands for planned development. Farmers can also develop the land on their own, he added.

There is no bar on sale and purchase of land and farming activity, he said, adding that farmers will get Rs 50,000 per acre after they join the scheme.

(editor@dailyworld.in)