Police foil farmers’ bid to disrupt meeting of Noida authority

The farmers have been staging protests against the Noida authority regularly since September 1, demanding better compensation for the land that they have given to the authority for the development of Noida

A group of farmers on Friday tried to barge into the administrative building of the Noida authority in Sector 6 and disrupt its 203rd board meeting, where the authority was taking key decisions, to press their demand for better compensation and residential plots among other benefits. However, their attempts were foiled by the police, who intercepted them at the traffic intersection of Harola and Sandip Paper Mill.

Farmers attempted to remove barricades and march to Noida authority office after protesting for 24 days on Friday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The farmers have been staging protests against the Noida authority regularly since September 1, demanding better compensation for the land that they have given to the authority for the development of Noida.

The authority did not allow them to protest outside its administrative building as it affected their public work. Therefore, the farmers’ protest was confined to a vacant plot adjoining a community centre of Harola village-- around 800 metres away from the administrative building.

On Friday, a group of farmers tried to reach the authority’s office but were stopped by the police.

Ranvijay Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police, Gautam Budh Nagar, said, “The farmers have been given adequate space for their protest. But we had to stop them when they tried to march towards the Noida authority office.”

Among the many demands of farmers are 64% hike in compensation of the total compensation they received during land acquisition since 1990, 10% (of total land acquired for development) residential plots for habitation, Abadi settlement in villages, construction of a park in each village, construction of a stretch on the lines of an outer ring road around each village and better civic amenities.

Sukhbir Yadav, who was leading Friday’s protest, said, “Our agitation will continue until the authority accepts our demands. We will intensify our agitation if the authority does not pay heed to our demands.”

“We are talking to farmers and trying to resolve their issues,” said Avinash Tripathi, officer on special duty of the Noida authority.