Farmers protest in Greater Noida seeking hiked land compensation

The protest started around 10am and continued till 2pm. Later, Yamuna authority CEO Arun Veer Singh and district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma called farmers to the authority office for talks, which will continue on Thursday

A group of farmers, under the banner of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), staged a protest at Zero Point in Greater Noida on Wednesday, demanding increased compensation for the land they provided for development projects.

During the protest at Zero Point, in Greater Noida, on Wednesday. (Sunil Ghosh /HT Photo)

Although traffic police had anticipated congestion near Zero Point due to the scheduled protest, senior traffic officers reported that the traffic flow remained unaffected on the expressway.

Lakhan Singh Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said a team was deployed near Zero Point. “The farmers protested under the loop, so traffic movement remained smooth on both the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway and the Yamuna Expressway,” he explained.

The farmers said their demands remain unaddressed. “No action has been taken to resolve our concerns. We (farmers) feel cheated,” said Sunil Pradhan, spokesperson for BKU-Tikait.

He added that on Wednesday, farmers from Noida, Greater Noida, Jewar, Dadri, and surrounding villages gathered under the loop of the Yamuna Expressway near Zero Point to reiterate their demands.

The protest started around 10am and continued till 2pm. Later, Yamuna authority CEO Arun Veer Singh and district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma called farmers to the authority office for talks. ‘We are currently in discussions with farmers to resolve their concerns,” said Verma.

Late Wednesday evening, Pradhan said farmers have been called back to the Yamuna authority office on Thursday for further discussions with CEOs of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities.

Notably, the Uttar Pradesh government on December 7, 2024, directed the three development authorities of Noida, Greater Noida, and Yamuna Expressway to make a list of farmers eligible for increased compensation in lieu of land acquired for various industrial projects and disburse money to them without further delay.

This directive followed a protest on December 2, 2024, where nearly 5,000 farmers attempted to march toward the national capital, causing a traffic standstill in Gautam Budh Nagar. The following day, farmers held a sit-in protest at Dalit Prerna Sthal, during which several farmers were detained.