The seed farm spreaded over 1200 acres served lakhs of farmers by producing seed in the past, while now only private firms are there to supply certified seed at exorbitant price.
Faridkot
Raja Harinder Singh seed farm, located in village Bir Sikhan Wala on about 1200 acres of land may restart the seed production after a gap of about two years.
The seed farm was running on the leased land which was then being looked after by Maharwal Kheva Ji Trust(MKJ) Faridkot, in about 1990.
Originally, the land was owned by the erstwhile ruler of Faridkot estate Raja Harinder Singh Brar.
There was reportedly a contract of lease between the Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana and MKJ trust for about 30 years.
After the expiry of the lease, the farm had shut its operations two years back.
There was also a dispute about the ownership of land between the MKJ and one daughter of the erstwhile ruler of Faridkot estate, Raja Harinder Singh Brar.
The High court had declared the trust null and void and ordered to divide the land among the all stakeholders of the family.
The case also reached upto the Apex court which upheld the high court order.
According to the Apex court orders, the trust was declared a non entity and all the property of the Faridkot estate, which was estimated worth Rs 20000 crore then, was to be divided among the two daughters of Harinder Singh Brar besides other legal heirs.
So, allegedly due to it and expiry of the lease, the farm had to be shut.
But with the efforts of the AAP local leaders, especially Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha, there is a hope that the farm will start its operations soon.
“The Speaker sahab has spoken to the chief minsiter Bhagwant Mann, minister for agriculture Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, the VC of PAU. The CM sahab is very keen and also wants to restart the operations of the seed farm because it is highly in the interest of the farmers. The process to restart it is in its final stage and the orders about it are going to be issued shortly,” said Manpreet Singh Dhaliwal, PRO to Kultar Singh Sandhwan, who is MLA from Kotkapura.
Kultar Singh Sandhwan had also tweeted Monday that the seed farm is going to be restarted shortly.
“Whatever is the final decision about it, would be learnt from the higher authorities of the university. However it is in process.I am also going to PAU tomorrow. The government is also very much willing to start it because it was a very important seed farm.when it was operational, there was no problem of the seed to the farmers. It is highly in the interest of the farmers,” said DR Kuldeep Singh, director, Punjab Agricultural university regional research station Faridkot, when contacted by Punjab Tribune.com.
Dr Satbir Singh Gosal ,the VC of PAU,was not available for his comments at his landline no."The VC is not available as he is out of station," said the attendant of the call.
There could be some technical hurdles in restarting its operations because of the change of the title (ownership ) of the land, as according to the court verdicts, only new owners may be in position to give the land on lease.