Manesar farmers planning to march to PM’s house detained, later let go

The police said around 100 protesters were detained and taken in five buses to Manesar police lines and the Sector 37 police station, and were released a few hours later

Around 300 farmers from Manesar, who were planning to march towards the PM’s house on Thursday, to protest against the acquisition of their land by the state government, were stopped by Gurugram police when they tried to leave the protest site at the tehsil office and move to the national highway on their way to Delhi.

The farmers from Manesar are protesting against the acquisition of 1,810 acres in Kasan, Sehrawan and Kukdola by the state government and demanding that either the government pay them market rates or release their land. The acquisition process was initiated in 2010 but it got delayed due to legal issues. (ANI)

The police said around 100 protesters were detained and taken in five buses to Manesar police lines and the Sector 37 police station, and were released a few hours later.

The farmers from Manesar are protesting against the acquisition of 1,810 acres in Kasan, Sehrawan and Kukdola by the state government and demanding that either the government pay them market rates or release their land. The acquisition process was initiated in 2010 but it got delayed due to legal issues.

Satdev Kaushik, sarpanch, Kasan, said the protesters wanted to march peacefully to Delhi and hand over their memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but the police and authorities used forced against them, and detained women and senior citizens.

“Hundreds of farmers had gathered to protest against the land acquisition and also to submit a memorandum to PM Narendra Modi. The state government is not listening to our pleas and are trying to suppress our agitation,” he said.

The police, however, denied use of force against the farmers.

The farmers also said over 5,000 acres of land in Kasan has already been acquired by previous governments to develop IMT Manesar. “The state government is forcing us to hand over land at ₹55 lakh an acre when the market rates are nearly ₹10 crore per acre. We will not give up our land for a pittance,” said Narender Kumar, another protester.

A number of women were also detained by the police but were later released. Later in the evening, a group of eight protesters also reached the Prime Minister’s Office to submit a memorandum of their demands, said one of their leaders.

Manveer Singh, deputy commissioner of police, Manesar , said they detained over 100 farmers and released them later. “They had no permission to carry out a march and so we detained them. They were released after a few hours and they dropped the plan to march to Delhi and returned to the protest site,” he said.