Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday assured a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation led by its president Sukhbir Singh Badal that land would be allotted for Gurdwara Sri Gian Godri Sahib at Haridwar.
The SAD delegation comprised Balwinder Singh Bhundar, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, NK Sharma, Parambans Singh Romana, Kanwarjit Singh Barkandi and others was assured to facilitate the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in finalising the site for the gurdwara.The SGPC team will visit Haridwar shortly.
Thanking Dhami for understanding and respecting the sentiments of the Sikh community, the SAD president said, “It is a matter of great pride that the SAD has been able to resolve a long pending demand of the Panth to reestablish a gurdwara at Haridwar to mark the first Udasi of Guru Nanak Dev.”
Badal also disclosed that the Uttarakhand chief minister had also agreed to resolve the grievances of thousands of farmers of Bazpur in Udham Singh Nagar district who were facing ceiling notices as well as restrictions on the sale of their lands which they had taken on lease more than 70 years back.
He said a resolution of this case involving 4,805 acres of land in Bazpur would be a huge relief to the hard-working Sikh farmers of Uttarakhand who had turned the jungles of Uttarakhand into lush fields with their sweat and blood.
Badal said thousands of people settled in 20 villages of Bazpur had been recorded as “bhumidars” with transferable rights for the past 50 years across 4,805 acres of land. He said besides agriculture fields, factories, markets, residential colonies and schools were situated in the area which had been given on lease under the Crown Grants Act 1895 from August 1920 till 2013.
Badal said even though the case was still in court, the Udham Singh Nagar district magistrate had issued ceiling notices to the land owners besides putting restrictions on the sale and purchase of the said land. “I am confident that now justice will be done to the farmers and all arbitrary orders issued against them will be withdrawn”.
