Taking a cue from their counterparts in Punjab, farmers of Jammu and Kashmir are also on the warpath against the acquisition of their agricultural land for the construction of the Katra-Delhi expressway corridor.

On Thursday, inhabitants of Chak Jangi Sarkar village of Dhyani Panchayat of J&K's Samba district organized a symbolic protest to mark the beginning of their agitation against the acquisition of the agricultural land, allotted to them for earning a livelihood.

"We are earning our livelihood only from agricultural and allied sectors and we have no other source of income. Now authorities have decided to acquire our whole land including houses", Anita Devi, a resident of Dhyani Panchayat told International Business Times. She said that most families of this village were earlier landless and had no source of income so agricultural land was allotted to them nearly 65 years ago by the then state government to save them from starvation.

Katra-Delhi highway
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"Now after a period of 65 years, authorities have decided to acquire the same land without providing any alternative land or compensation", District Development Council (DDC) member of Samba, Ramesh Chander told International Business Times. He said that decision of the authorities to acquire land would render over 60 families homeless and jobless.

Villagers demand proper rehabilitation, alternative agricultural land.

Agitating villagers demanded that they are occupants of this land for the last 65 years so they should be properly rehabilitated at alternative places besides providing agricultural land to save them from starvation. "We are not against development, but authorities should adopt a humanitarian approach while acquiring land from villagers", Chander said.

Villagers protesting
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Expressway to pass through 229 villages of J&K

The Delhi-Katra expressway corridor will cover as many as 229 villages in four major districts of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Expressway, in the Union Territory, will be 157-Km in length. It will be 43.4- Km in Kathua, about 25-Km in Samba district, 72-Km in Jammu district, and 16.5-km in Reasi district. As per the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the prestigious project, in Kathua district land of 37 villages will be acquired, in Samba the number is 70. Land from the highest number 96 villages will be acquired in the Jammu district followed by 26 villages in Reasi district.

Expressway will reduce Katra-Delhi journey

Rs 35,000 crore expressway corridor will reduce the current Delhi-Katra distance from 727-Km to 588-Km and Delhi-Amritsar distance to 405-Km allowing commuters to cover it within 5 to 6 hours. While the survey has been completed and land acquisition is under progress in different states from where it will pass.

Farmers of Punjab have already opposed acquisition of land

Amid ongoing farmers' protest at Delhi borders, members of the Kisan Sangharsh Committee had already announced not to allow the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to acquire land for the purpose. Nearly 14,000 acres of land is to be acquired in Punjab. 

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