Farmers hold ‘motorcycle protest marches’ against Punjab’s land pooling policy

Even as the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the Punjab government’s land pooling policy for now, farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) on Monday (August 11, 2025) held ‘motorcycle protest marches’ in parts of the State, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the policy.

Terming the land pooling policy as anti-farmer and farm labourers, scores of protesters, riding motorcycles, staged demonstrations by raising anti-government slogans against the policy and the State government.

“There’s huge resentment against the policy in the agricultural community, yet the State government is adamantly continuing with it. We won’t let it happen. Today, farmers and people from other walks of life came out on the roads in large numbers across most districts of the State, which clearly shows their anger over the policy. We firmly oppose it,” senior KMM leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said.

Demanding the immediate withdrawal of the policy, Mr. Pandher warned the government of an intensified agitation if its wasn’t.

“We are going from village to village to make people aware of the ill-effects of the policy. The Punjab government wants to take away our fertile lands to eventually benefit business houses. We will not give our land. We will stage a demonstration in Jalandhar on August 20, and will intensify our agitation if the government doesn’t withdraw the policy,” he said.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 7 granted an interim stay on the policy, and gave the State government four weeks time to file a reply addressing the concerns over the policy. The next date for the hearing has been fixed for September 10.

The High Court in its order observed that the policy prima facie appears to have been notified “in haste”, and all concerns, including social and environmental impact assessments, timelines, and redressal grievance mechanisms, should have been addressed at the very outset, prior to the policy’s notification.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on June 4 notified the Land Pooling Policy 2025. Since then, several farmer bodies and political parties have been staging protests and demonstrations, demanding its withdrawal.