Women vandalise property over land dispute

A group of women who alleged that their crops were harvested by another group vandalised property in a village in Karnal district, following which prohibitory orders were imposed in some villages of the area.
The women yesterday vandalised property that included a tubewell and some rooms constructed at the site, according to police.
The protesting women claimed that they had been guarding the crops for a week, but a few days back when they had gone to Delhi in connection with some protest, the other group had harvested their crops.
The other group, which claims to be in lawful possession of the land, however, said the women had no claim on the land in question and were throwing tantrums just to gain sympathy and to put pressure on the authorities.

In view of the tense situation prohibitory orders were imposed in some villages of Karnal and the matter is being probed, a police spokesman said.
The villages, where several acres of land is located, fall in Gharonda block of Haryana's Karnal district, about 140 km from here.

The protesting women claimed that certain villagers colluded with the revenue officials and got more share during the division of land. They also claimed the land had been in their possession since consolidation in 1965 and alleged that some revenue records were altered by revenue officials during consolidation of land holdings in April, 1999.

Consolidation of holdings refers to amalgamation and redistribution of fragmented land to bring together all plots of land of a cultivator in one compact block.
The women threatened to immolate themselves along with their children if those who had harvested the crops were not punished.