MULTAN, June 20: The tension at the Peerowal farms of the Punjab Seed Corporation in Khanewal goes on without respite as police have kept siege of the entire area for the second consecutive day on Thursday.

Police contingents stayed on all the line roads and intersections leading to chaks 86, 75, 87, 83, 85, 82 and 81 (10-Rs) of the PSC farms where hundreds of tenants are demanding ownership rights over the state land which they claimed they have been cultivating for the last century.

Apart from the closure of the channels that supply irrigation water to the seven villages, all the telephones in the chaks have also been ‘mysteriously’ gone out of order since Wednesday night.

When contacted, people of adjoining villages told this correspondent that the police were arresting all those who came out from the Peerowal farms. However, it could not be confirmed through police sources.

Telephone operator at the residence of Khanewal police chief told that the official had left for the PSC farms.

With heavy police build-up, tenants had been expecting government action to evacuate the land anytime the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

A source in Khanewal district administration told that delay in the action was due to the apprehension that the action might stop the wheat ‘batai’ process for which the tenants had agreed on Wednesday last.

He said the batai process might take seven to 10 days in the seven chaks and the government was facing a dilemma to keep the contingent deployed for long.

However, he said the closure of water channels was likely to produce the results government wanted to get through the proposed ‘razed-the-crop’ operation to get enforce the writ of the government.

‘Tenants’ self-sown cotton crop will automatically destroy with cut in the supply of irrigation water.

Hundreds of children of the tenants staged rallies in chaks 83 and 85 against poverty of their parents and exploits of the PSC officials that rendered all the tenant families debtors.

Meanwhile, wheat batai process had been carried out in the presence of police in chaks 87 and 75. The tenants did not share the wheat crop this year with PSC as protest.

However after a settlement agreed on Wednesday, they started giving government share through the revenue department saying they could cooperate with the government but as far as PSC was concerned they would not cooperate with it.

But due to the closure of water channels, disconnection of all means of communication with outer world after siege and suspension of telephone service, the smooth batai process may suffer as tenants’ leaders have warned of non-cooperation if the government does not discharge water in fields and restore the communication.