Compensate farmers who lose their produce in national interest: Arun Jaitley

Farmers who sacrifice their produce in national interest, as their lands fall in the Fencing Area along the border, should be compensated adequately by the government, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley today said.

Elaborating the roadmap to develop the border areas, he stressed to increase cross border trade to enhance the economic activities.

Addressing public rallies in border villages-- Rajataal, Bhakna Kalan and Khurmania-- near Attari, he said,"the farmers who possess agriculture lands in the Fencing Area often have to sacrifice their produce in the interest of the national security which should be duly compensated by the government." The NDA government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee started a compensation scheme by giving Rs 3,000 per hectare to the farmers, he said.

Later, this scheme was scraped by the UPA government, he claimed.

"In this context it would be appropriate to mention that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh belongs to Amritsar and is well aware of the problems of the border area," he said.

Jaitley assured the farmers to restart the scheme once voted to power.

More stores, godowns and hotels will be needed to accommodate traders and cargo, he said.

All these activities will provide more employment and entrepreneur opportunities in the area, and bane of being a border area will be converted into boon, he said.

In Bhakna Kalan village, Jaitley paid tributes to Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna of Gadar Party, a movement against the British Rule in India.

He said that he was feeling honoured and privileged to visit the village of great freedom fighter, remembered for Kamagatama incident in the history of freedom movement.