65 yrs on, 160 displaced Sikh farmers' land dispute reaches SGPC

Time of India

2 days ago

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Pilibhit: Over 160 Sikh farmer families, displaced between 1958 and 1960 during the construction of the Nanakmatta dam in present-day Uttarakhand and resettled in Pilibhit's Bamanpur Bhagirath and Tatarganj villages, approached the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) president on Wednesday seeking help in securing legal ownership of the agricultural land allotted to them but never formally transferred.
The state govt had allotted 2,664 acres in Bamanpur Bhagirath and 1,040 acres in Tatarganj — both originally forest land — for their rehabilitation. "However, no revenue titles were issued as the mandatory transfer of land from the forest department to the revenue department was never completed," said Gurdayal Singh, an affected farmer from Bamanpur Bhagirath and a former zila panchayat chairman.
"Without ownership, we can't sell our sugarcane to mills or our grain under the MSP system.
Our sugarcane crop, worth over Rs 30 crore annually, remains outside the formal procurement system. We are forced to sell cane at lower rates to jaggery units. Since both villages face regular floods from river Sharda, sugarcane is the only crop that withstands the water. We grow it despite losses compared to the SAP," he added.
This group is part of a larger community of over 7,000 Sikh families across Pilibhit, Bijnor, Rampur, and Kheri who were similarly rehabilitated after major infrastructure projects in the 1950s and 1960s but continue to farm without legal titles.
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In Pilibhit alone, forest settlement records from 1961–67 had earmarked land in Bamanpur Bhagirath and Tatarganj for these families, but the formal transfer process has remained incomplete.
The farmers said they continue to receive legal notices from the forest department, which treats them as encroachers. Karnail Singh, a farmer from Tatarganj, said, "Despite decades of petitions, the district administration and the state govt have done nothing beyond filing reports.
No action has been taken on the ground."
In Oct 2018, some of the affected farmers moved Allahabad high court, seeking directions to the cane department for surveying their crop and ensuring sugar mill procurement. Though the department complied in 2019, the farmers said no action followed thereafter.
District cane officer of Kheri, Ved Prakash Singh, said, "Only farmers with valid revenue titles are eligible for sugarcane survey and supply to mills as per the department's norms."
Sub-divisional magistrate of Puranpur circle, Ajit Pratap Singh, said, "We've verified 47 families so far and submitted the report to Bareilly division commissioner Saumya Agarwal for further action with the state govt. Verification of the remaining families will begin soon after receiving confirmation from Uttarakhand revenue officials."
In 2023, the Bareilly division commissioner had set a Feb 2025 deadline to resolve the issue, but the process has remained incomplete. Multiple committees formed by the state govt in recent years also failed to offer lasting relief. "We got a positive response from the SGPC president and an assurance of full support in resolving the matter," Gurdayal Singh said.