Chandigarh, March 23 (IANS) The stalemate between leading textiles group Trident and farmers in Barnala district of Punjab has been broken with the state government intervening in their land acquisition dispute.
A Punjab government spokesperson said Sunday that the stalemate was broken following a meeting between farmers’ leaders, officials of the Trident group and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
He said the Rs.1.5 billion Punjab-based Trident group – which is one of the biggest towel manufacturers in the world – agreed to pay a 70 percent enhancement over the original compensation amount announced during the regime of the previous Congress government.
The enhancement would mean a benefit of Rs.195 million to the affected farmers.
The government announced the withdrawal of all Trident-related criminal cases against the agitating farmers.
Three farmers died during the anti-Trident agitation in 2006 and 70 others were injured in the police firing.
The farmers objected to the forcible acquisition of 376 acres of fertile agricultural land for setting up a new plant of Trident group in Barnala district, 250 km from here. They claimed that the compensation for their land was very low to suit the interests of Trident.
Following the agreement, Badal appealed to the farmers to withdraw their agitation on this issue.