Farmers in three villages of Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal’s home constituency Gidderbaha, that had been facing acute problem of water logging for years, have reason to smile. The Muktsar District Land Price Fixation Committee today decided to give compensation of more than Rs 21 lakh per acre for acquiring the land of farmers of Thehri, Babania and Ghagha villages for the upcoming thermal plant of 2640 MW capacity, at Gidderbaha.

Manpreet, who is also the Gidderbaha MLA, is one of the members of the committee, and attended its meeting held today. Area MP Sukhbir Badal and Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal, who heads the committee, did not attend the meeting. Sukhbir was at Bathinda today, while Aggarwal was stated to be suffering from an injury.

Gidderbaha SDM Dr Rishi Pal Singh said the compensation amount decided by the committee included 30 percent solatium and 10 percent non-litigation allowance. He added that a formal notification under section 6 would be issued to set the process of acquisition in motion.

According to Dr Rishi, about 2,200 acres of land belonging to more than 1,500 farmers would be acquired for the thermal plant.

“In these villages, 80 percent of the land was facing an acute problem of water logging. For years, there had been virtually no produce here, and no one was ready to buy it,” claimed Gurpal Singh Gora, SGPC member from Gidderbaha. Gora hailed the decision to award a handsome compensation to the farmers.

The farmers are ecstatic too. “For 10 to 12 years, there had been no produce in our farms due to severe water logging. We will now buy fertile land somewhere else,” said Ranjit Singh of Fakharsar village, whose family owns 15 acres in Babania village. “We thank Manpreet Badal for this compensation.”