Farmers protest land acquisition

HUNDREDS OF women, farmers and youth, led by District Youth Congress Committee president Mukund Tewari, staged a dharna at the district magistrate?s office here on Tuesday to protest against the acquisition of farmers? land near Yamuna bridge by the ADA.

HUNDREDS OF women, farmers and youth, led by District Youth Congress Committee president Mukund Tewari, staged a dharna at the district magistrate’s office here on Tuesday to protest against the acquisition of farmers’ land near Yamuna bridge by the ADA.

HT Image

The farmers also took out a rally and demanded that the SP government issue orders to vacate their land. Later, addressing the meeting, Mukund Tewari said the ADA was working in an autocratic manner. The fertile land was acquired forcefully against the farmers’ wishes, due to which many of them were now facing financial crisis. Agriculture crop worth lakhs was also destroyed by the ADA, he said.

“But even after a week, not a single senior officer reached there to listen to the agony of the farmers. The farmers also raised a protest but to no avail,” he said.
Tewari said the insensitive attitude of senior officials indicated that the land was acquired at the behest of the SP government. He also warned the district administration of serious consequences in case no action was taken to solve the problem of hundreds of farmers.

District general secretary and incharge Jamunapaar Naveen Dixit said the land which the development authority acquired was the ancestral property of the farmers. These farmers also had official records to claim their ownership, but still their land was acquired. However, if this was not stopped the Congress would be forced to launch a decisive battle against the ADA, he added.

Presiding over the meeting, Haji Nizammudin said a memorandum addressed to the Governor had been given to city magistrate RK Mishra for stopping harassment of farmers. RK Mishra assured the members of taking action in this regard. The dharna was also attended by Abdul Rab, Mohd Firoze, Anand Srivastava and Nizamuddin.