Jewar farmers thank Yogi for airport land acquisition relief
The CM was attending the Moto GP Bharat event at Budha International Circuit. He also met chief executive officers of top global companies and garment businessman
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met a delegation of 21 farmers at Gautam Buddha University guest house on Sunday during which the latter thanked him for allowing them to claim compensation and rehabilitation benefits for the government land acquired for the construction of Noida international greenfield airport at Jewar.
The CM was attending the Moto GP Bharat event at Budha International Circuit. He also met chief executive officers of top global companies and garment businessman.
“Our government is working for the welfare of farmers and the needy. So, we took the decision in their favour,” said the CM.
The farmers came from several places, including Ranhera, Veerampur and Mudrah.
After meeting the CM, one of the members of the delegation, Meghraj Jatav, said, “We had only 9 bighas of land, our main source of income to feed our family. But when this land was acquired for the airport, we were not given any compensation. The tehsil officials denied us any relief saying that the land that we were using belonged to the government. Hence, we won’t get any benefit. But the UP CM took a brave decision and granted us compensation. So, we wanted to thank him.”
After the land was acquired for the airport and the farmers did not get any compensation, a farmers’ protest erupted. Following this, the boundary wall that was being constructed around the airport site was halted. It posed a hurdle to the development of the airport, which is slated to become operational by 2024-end, said officials.
The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) officials said work on the 2km stretch of the airport boundary wall was not being constructed due to safety and security concerns.
Finally, the UP cabinet on August 1 passed a policy decision allowing all farmers to become eligible for compensation for government land under the category of “Shor (government land meant for natural water bodies and forest etc)” if the government acquires the same for public projects.
Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singh had demanded that these farmers must get the compensation and the UP CM accepted the demand because it was impacting hundreds of farmers who cumulatively had 14 hectares of land.
The NIAL and the Gautam Budh Nagar administration had started distributing the compensation and other benefits to all farmers, who were using the “Shor” land, paving the way for the construction of the boundary wall.
“We were using the government land for last 45 years, and it was taken away. Before the UP government granted us the compensation, I had no money to get my daughters married,” said Ramprasad, another farmer.
MLA Singh, who was at the meeting, said, “The UP government’s decision for the farmers, whose land was acquired for the airport, will also benefit others whose land has been taken for a government project in any area of the state. This decision was a much-needed step for the needy farmers, who were given the possession of the government land 45 years back by mistake.”