Gobindpura Case Study

Chapter V
Struggle of Land Dispossessed in Gobindpura
There are a number of cases dealing with land acquisition process in India, such as the case of Singur in West Bengal, Noida in Uttar Pradesh, and Kalinagr in Orissa etc. Dispossessed people in all these cases struggled a lot for compensating their loss or getting their land back. The case of Gobindpura village is not an exception to the norm. The present chapter deals with the struggle being faced by displaced people of village Gobindpura.
As per three notifications issued, the total land acquired by Punjab Government for Gobindpura thermal power plant is 880 acres, out of which, 806 acres of land acquired is only of Gobindpura. In last notification, the Punjab Government has acquired
21st June 2011, administration started demarcation of the project site with a strong contingent of police. The villagers protested on the railway track and blocked the traffic. Two farmers’ organizations Bhartiya Kissan Union (Ugrahan) & Bhartiya Kissan Union (Dakonda) marched towards the village Gobindpura with workers. Many farmers were arrested by the police. After that many other Farmers and Mazdoor organizations of Punjab joined the agitation against land acquisition in Gobindpura. The seventeen unions including Kissan and Mazdoor Unions formed “Coordinating Sangarsh Committee” against land acquisition. The seventeen unions i.e. Bhartiya Kissan Union Ekta (Ugrahan), Bhartiya Kissan Union Ekta (Dakonda), Bhartiya Kissan Union Ekta (Sidhupur), Punjab Kissan Union, Bhartiya Kissan Union Krantikari, Kirti Kissan Union, Jamhoori Kissan Sabha, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, Paindu Mazdoor Union Mishal, Paindu Mazdoor Union Punjab, Mazdoor Mukti Morcha Punjab, Dehati Mazdoor Sabha, Krantikari Paindu Mazdoor Union are the part of “Coordinating Sangarsh Committee”.
In this struggle, the level of participation by the farmers and agricultural labourers of Gobindpura village as well as the workers of the different Kissan and Mazdoor Unions is very high. The women and students of village Gobindpura also participated in the
According to the survey, 85 respondents participated in village dharna and 78 respondents participated at the time of dharna in city. The police arrested many villagers at the time of these dharna’s as demonstrated in the survey, 58 respondents were arrested by police and 37 respondents out of these were sent to jail also. 22 persons out of 37 were jailed for 21 days whereas the other 16 remained in prison for more than one