Chandigarh, Aug. 7 -- The high court on Wednesday asked the Punjab government whether it had carried out the social and environmental impact assessment before notifying the land-pooling policy or not. The court also asked the state government to spell out whether the policy --- that has raised the hackles of Opposition leaders and farmers --- had provisions for rehabilitation of landless labourers and others. These questions were raised by the bench of justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and justice Deepak Manchanda, while the state's advocate general Maninderjit Singh gave an undertaking that the policy would be kept on hold and no further steps would be taken till the next date of hearing. The matter will be taken up again on Thursday. The petition was filed by Ludhiana resident Gurdeep Singh Gill who had challenged the policy, notified on June 4, stating that around 26,000 acres of land in the district had been notified for setting up of residential and commercial projects without carrying out the necessary environment and social impact assessment which is an essential prerequisite for acquisition of land under Sections 4 to 8 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Even the assessment as to whether it will serve the 'public purpose' for setting up residential and commercial complexes as set out in the Act of 2013 was not undertaken, he had alleged further underlining that a large number of public/private housing/commercial projects are already underway and are more than adequate to meet the existing and future needs of the public. Hence, the Act of 2013 is being circumvented and the policy is wholly arbitrary and irrational, the plea alleged. It was also argued that there is no provision for providing compensation at the time of acquisition and only an annual livelihood allowance of Rs.50,000/- per acre would be paid but it would be too meagre for the sustenance of families of small and marginal farmers, who would be affected adversely. The policy is discriminatory against small landowners, he further claimed. The court while deferring hearing asked the AG to inform the court if the environmental impact assessment had been carried for which directions were issued by the Supreme Court in 2023 while observing that before permitting urban development, the environmental impact assessment study should be conducted. The leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, said that the high court has rightly asked for the social and environmental impact assessments for implementing the land pooling policy. "This scheme was an outright violation of the Land Acquisition Act. This policy's purpose was to circumvent social and environmental impact assessments, enabling the government to seize farmers' land and threaten the very foundation of our agrarian economy," Bajwa said. Bajwa said that the HC recognised the challenges faced not only by farmers but also by landless labourers, emphasising that the government had provided no rehabilitation plans for them The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Punjab unit on Thursday announced a state-wide yatra titled 'Save Land, Save Farmers', from August 17 to September 5. The yatra will kick off on August 17 from Patiala, and pass through villages in Malwa, Majha, and Doaba regions before culminating in Pathankot on September 5. This announcement was made by BJP's state vice president, Kewal Singh Dhillon, during a press conference held at the party's Punjab headquarters. He was accompanied by state general secretaries Anil Sareen, Rakesh Rathore, Dayal Singh Sodhi and party spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal. Dhillon stated that during this yatra, the Punjab BJP will go village-to-village, creating awareness among farmers against this scheme and mobilising them. The BJP leaders condemned the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government. "Through the land pooling scheme, the government seeks to hand over farmers' land to mafias, which is completely unacceptable," Sareen added....