Uttarakhand CM assures SAD delegation of land allotment for gurdwara in Haridwar

Dehradun: In a major development, 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 in Haridwar.

An assurance to this effect was given to the SAD delegation which called on the Chief Minister. Dhami assured to facilitate the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in finalising the site for the gurdwara. A SGPC team will visit Haridwar shortly for this purpose.

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 Sri Guru Nanak Dev.”

Badal also disclosed while talking to newsmen here that the Uttarakhand Chief Minister had also agreed to intercede and resolve the grievances of thousands of farmers of Bazpur in Udham Singh Nagar district who were facing sealing notices as well as restrictions on 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.

Giving details, Badal said thousands of people settled in 20 villages of Bazpur tehsil 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 in August 1920 till 2013.

Badal said despite the fact that the case was still in court, the Udham Singh Nagar district magistrate had issued sealing notices to the land owners besides putting restrictions on the sale and purchase of the said land.

He said the land owners had approached him last month following which he had sought the intervention of the Uttarakhand Chief Minister. “I am confident that now justice will be done to the farmers and all arbitrary orders issued against them will be withdrawn”.