The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) finally coming to rescue of Gujarat Sikh farmers facing eviction in Kutch region has suggested a formula to the Gujarat government.

Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, incharge of Shiromani Akali Dal’s Delhi unit met representatives of Gujarat government and suggested a way out.

Ramoowalia while talking to a leading newspaper said that he had asked the representative of Modi government to separate genuine farmers from those who had purchased the agricultural land even though they were not.
The Akali leader said through this formula the Gujarat government would be able to sift the genuine farmers from those involved in the land mafia.

Ramoowalia further said that the Sikh farmers had been invited by the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to the Kutch-Bhuj area after the 1965 Indo-Pak war to make the land not only fertile but also help guard the country’s border against foes.

Most of the farmers who had migrated to Gujarat were primarily from Malwa region of Punjab and Karnal district of Haryana.

Hundreds of families of farmers from Punjab and Haryana in Gujarat face eviction after the government invoked Bombay Tenancy and Agriculture lands Act 1948.

The Gujarat High Court had given a verdict in favour of the farmers putting a stay on eviction against which the state government had filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court. The matter is still pending in the Supreme Court.

Ramoowalia said chief minister Narendra Modi could submit an affidavit in the Apex Court assuring that he would make amendments in the relevant law to save the farmers facing eviction.
He further said that one could easily differentiate the farmers from the non-farmers from other states.

SAD-led Punjab government had also extended legal aid to the farmers who had rejected the offer.