GB Nagar farmers march to collectorate, hand over list of demands to ADM

Farmers from Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) also held a meeting with district magistrate Manish Verma to raise local concerns of farmers. Among other demands, they also sought higher compensation for land acquired in the past and developed plots in lieu of the acquired land

With farmers calling for the resumption of ‘Delhi Chalo’ campaign, security at the Delhi-Noida borders was heightened on Wednesday, leading to long snarls on roads abutting the border areas during morning and evening rush hour. Traffic police said similar traffic conditions can be expected on Thursday as well.

Long snarls were seen at the Noida-Chilla (Delhi) border on Wednesday morning owing to heightened security measures and stricter checking of vehicles by the Delhi Police. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

“There was a high traffic volume near DND Flyway and other borders in the morning because of heightened checking on the Delhi side. However, we have not imposed any restrictions or diversions yet. People should plan their journey after checking traffic updates,” said Anil Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

Evening peak hours was snarls on the Dadri Bypass Road, GT Road and NTPC exit in Greater Noida even as farmers dispered after their meeting with the district officials.

“It took me two hours to go from Noida to Delhi this morning that usually takes one hour. This is an administration induced jam as the police were slowing down traffic to search for farmers in each vehicle,” said Neeru Singh, a daily commuter who works for a food product company.

Amid the heightened security and traffic restrictions, hundreds of farmers gathered at Expomart in Greater Noida on Wednesday and marched towards the Gautam Budh Nagar collectorate to hand over their list of demands to the additional district magistrates (ADMs).

The farmers from Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) also held a meeting with district magistrate Manish Verma to raise local concerns of farmers. Among other demands, farmers also sought higher compensation for their land acquired in the past and developed plots to be given in lieu of the acquired land.

“We raised our concerns with the DM who said most issues have already been raised with the divisional commissioner in Meerut. We want changes in the land acquisition bill, an increase in circle rates and and the withdrawal of baseless cases filed by discoms against farmers. We also submitted a written memorandum with our demands at the national level to the ADMs,” said Sunil Pradhan, a BKU member from the district.

The demonstration was part of the state-wide campaign announced by farmer leader Rakesh Tikait earlier. During an event in Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar, Tikait had said farmers would gather at the collectorate in every district and submit their demands.

Pradhan added that the DM has assured them of a meeting with all development authorities of the district if the national farmers’ protest is called off after February 23.