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Technically, the land
acquisition proceedings AGRICULTURE
for the Trans Ganga City
Unnao stands lapsed in
zero-consists of Laxmi Khera, Murlipur to 5.51 per bigha under settlement rules.
and Shankarpur Sarai to ascertain truth view of inordinate delay Thus, effective price per bigha paid @
that provoked farmers-police clashes under the new 12.51 lakh.
on November 16. The delegation con- On the other hand, farmers contend
demned oppression of armless farmers law that aims to that after passage of almost 17 years the
who suffered severe injuries in baton strengthen farmers’ prices of land have gone tremendously
charge by local police. high as compared to compensation of-
The entire area has been surrounded rights and interests fered by administration. Legal experts
by heavy police forces depriving villag- are of the opinion that most of the land
ers to approach doctors or nearby nurs- saying that they did not assemble there acquisition proceedings under the Land
ing homes. Police is misbehaving with to indulge in violent proteststhey were Acquisition Act 1894 stood redundant
women and beating male members only demanding higher compensation due to passage of time in view of Section
without any rhyme or reason. They have for their valued fertileland as sole source 24 of “The Right to Fair Compensation
been treated inhumanly and deprived of their livelihood. Kisan Manch presi- and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
of routine necessities. All these happen- dent Shekhar Dixit said that at least one Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act,
ings compelled male members to stay third of farmers of the clash-hit areas did 2013”. This Act envisaged rehabilitation
away from police wrath. Aradhana told not receive compensation and violence aspects and enhanced quantum of com-
Tehelka, “Farmers are frightened by the erupted when police and officials of pensation to the tune of four times of the
terrorising act of police crushing their UPSIDA were forcibly dispossessing market rates. In the backdrop of Bhatta
peaceful agitationcontinuing for more them of their land. Persol agitation of farmers in western
than two years, against determination Uttar Pradesh and thereafter, enactment
of compensation of their land in the ac- he state government conceived of drastic changes in the law govern-
quisition.” She supported their demand the idea of ambitious project- ing land acquisition in the country, the
to revise the amount of compensation in T Trans Ganga City- during Mu- Unnao farmers have turned wiser. The
accordance with new legislation brought layam Singh Yadav regime in 2003. The clashes have given ammunition to politi-
by Congress party to protect the interests government acquired 1144 acres of land cal rivals of ruling BJP. BSP chief Maya-
of farmers as a whole. on the banks of river Ganga under the wati condemned police action on farm-
Congress delegation demanded judi- scheme. The plan envisaged integrat- ers and tweeted, “Instead of resolving
cial probe into unprovoked baton charge ed use of the land including 147 acres compensation disputes with the farm-
on the agitated farmers by a retired of non-polluting industries, 97 acres ers, BJP government should not resort to
judge of the High Court and withdrawal for housing projects, 45.39 acres for lathicharge and exploitation of farmers.
of cases filed against farmers. State Con- group housing, 14.45 acres for industrial Government must take it seriously.”
gress delegation included General Secre- housing, 158 acres for mixed usages, 61 Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh
tary Rakesh Sachan, MLA Sohail Akhtar acres for housing displaced farmers, Yadav also criticised the BJP government
Ansari, Manoj Yadav, State secretary 355.67 acres for open area- parks and in his twitter. “In UP farmers are facing
VivekanandPathak, district president facilities and 263 acres for road networks police lathi instead of fair compensation
Subhash Singh. connecting Kanpur town and barrage. of their lands. They are not getting prop-
The farmer’s welfare organisation, The agitated farmers complained er price of their sugarcane. Their crops
Rashtriya Kisan Manch (RKM) has come non-payment of higher compensation, werer damaged because stray animal
forward to defend the agitated farmers however the District MagistrateDeven- graze their food produces. The cases of
draPandey, denied their claim and reiter- food growers’ suicides are on the rise in
ated that the farmers got adequate com- the country. Is it the definition of devel-
pensation for their acquired land. While opment in BJP rule?”
communicating with Tehelka Mr Pandey The joint action committee of BHU
asserted that land acquisition for this students opposed brutal baton-charge
project involved only the three villages by Unnao Police on the farmers. Student
affecting 2039 farmers out of that 1925 leader Vikas Singh said, “We students are
have received compensation amount- fighting against privatization and con-
ing to 93,02,02,224. The payment to re- sumerism which is in fact extension of
maining l14 farmers could not be done farmer’s struggle. Right from Mandsaur
due to litigation in various courts but we to Umbha (Sonbhadra) they are facing
have 5,22,38,628still available for them. bullets. They are not getting remunera-
The government further gave ex-gratia tive prices for their farm produce pro-
payment of 7 lakh per bigha through voking them hard to commit suicides.”
UPSIDC in addition to compensation @
1.51 lakh per bigha. It was further raised LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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