There is an ongoing struggle in Mansa, Punjab against the acquisition of 2300 acres of land in four villages for the Talwandi Sabo Super Thermal Plant Project. The struggle is being led by the CPI(ML), the Punjab Kisan Union, the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha and the Thermal Plant-Affected Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (Struggle Committee). The affected people are against the proposal of handing over the plant on the “Build, Operate, Own” basis to a private company, and are also demanding at least Rs 25 lakh per acre as compensation, 80% of the work in constructing and running the Plant to be for the affected people and other unemployed people in Mansa, provision of education, medical care, electricity and drinking water free of cost on behalf of the Project, and compensation not only to the farmers but also to the affected workers.

Thousands of people held a dharna with the above demands from 9-11 January at the Mansa District Collectorate. On 18 January, they blockaded the Mansa-Talwandi Sabo road at the main Project site (Banawala village) all day and held a militant mass meeting. When the Government called the mandatory public hearing as part of Environment Impact Assessment, people gathered in very large numbers in protest against it. During this protest demonstration, a sarpanch of one of the affected villages (who on account of being with Akali Dal (Badal) is campaigning against the protest), faced the people’s anger as he was returning from the Government’s public hearing. Using this as the pretext, the Badal Government and the District Administration cracked down on the movement, slapping Section 307 cases on 59 protestors including 6 prominent leaders. Raids are being conducted in the affected villages of Banawala, Pero, Raipur and Talwandi Akaliya.

On 31 January, thousands of peasants and workers blocked traffic in Mansa Town with a protest march that reached the District Collectorate and gheraoed it for two hours. This gherao coincided with the state-wide protest programme of gheraoing district collectorates against the policy of privatisation; this protest had been called by a coordination committee of 17 mass organisations. The mass meeting at the district collectorate was addressed by the CPI(ML) State Secretary Comrade Rajvinder Rana, PKU President Comrade Ruldu Singh, Mazdoor Mukti Morcha Secretary Bhagwant Singh Samao, convenor of the Thermal plant-affected Kisan Sangharsh Samiti Malkeet Singh Banawala and Gursevak Singh Raipur (all of whom have had cases of attempt to murder slapped on them), as well as AICCTU National Joint Secretary Comrade Tarsem Jodhan and Comrade Sukhdarshan Nat. On February 5, a continuous dharna was held at the District Collectorate. On 19 February there are plans to participate in the Punjab Bandh called by the 17 Left mass organisations against privatisation of the Electricity Board, educational and health institutions. On 26 February, a State-Level Conference will be held at Mansa in which various movements against land grab for SEZs and other Projects at Abhor, Chandigarh, Bhavnigarh and other places will take part.

A three-member team of the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sangharsh Samiti led by Comrade Prem Singh Gehlawat, and including the Convenor of the Punjab Kisan Union (PKU), Sube Singh and former MLA, Tarsem Singh Jodhan visited the affected villages. The team found that the state government had employed all tactics to terrorise the people into submission to the “pre-determined” terms and conditions. The team pointed out pointed out that most of the farmers had pledged their lands either to the banks or commission agents (Ahrtiya) for loans. There were numerous cases where though they had physical possession, the ownership of the land in records stood in the name of the traditional ‘Jagirdars’ or ‘Zamindar’. Such farmers would get nothing in compensation, if their lands were acquired.

It is notable that similar struggles against land grab for power plants, mostly run by private companies, is ongoing at many places in the country: including Barmer (Rajasthan), Dadri (UP), Chamalapur (Karnataka), Jagatsinghpur and Dhenkanal-Angul (Orissa). 