Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 14: Sikh Progressive Front (SPF) has strongly condemned the forcible eviction of about 700 Sikh families settled in Uttar Pradesh for the last over seventy years.
While addressing a press conference here today, Balvinder Singh president of the Front along with Rajinder Singh Sudan, Janak Singh, Manjit Singh and others strongly condemned the forcible eviction of more than 700 Sikh families of UP by the Yogi Sarkar.
Giving detail Singh said during the partition of the country lakhs of Sikhs and Hindu families were migrated from Pakistan. Some of the rulers of the princely states of UP like Raja Partap Vikram Shah of Singhai State and Nawab of Rampur invited Sikh migrants to settle in UP for the cultivation & development of barren land. Majority of the Sikh families settled in three districts of UP- Bijnour, Rampur and Lakhimpur Kheeri. With their sheer hard work, these skilled farmers developed the land and also constructed their houses there.
Later, in 1966, after about 18 years of their settlement, the Government of India introduced Land Ceiling Act by virtue of which the extra land on the names of the then princely rulers came under the said Act, even those lands which were developed and possessed by the migrated Sikhs from Pakistan, who continued the farming activities till date, and which were later on converted to forest land.
Again in 1980, the Government introduced Chak Badi and the land which were in possession of the Sikhs for the last 20 years were transferred on their names in the Revenue records besides this all these owner of land were made members of the local sugar mills and on this bases, the Government provided all facilities like, roads connectivity, electricity water supply and all other development activities.
Now, after 70 years of their settlement in UP, the present Government is forcing these Sikh families from two districts of Bijnour and Lakhimpur Kheeri and 40,000 sikhs settled in district Rampur to vacate their land falling under the Land Act and from the land belonging to Gram Sabha of village Champatpur in district Bijnour.
They alleged that whenever BJP Govt came in power in UP and in other States of the country, they started harassing the peaceful and law abiding Sikh community. They appealed the Prime Minister to intervene into the matter immediately.
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