A group of farmers of Greater Noida —who have been agitating against the UP government over the land acquisition — has decided to strip down to their underwear in protest during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Greater Noida’s India Expo Mart for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) summit starting on May 2. Delegates from other countries will also be present at the meet.
The protesters want to mount pressure on the state government to resolve the outstanding issues such as hiked compensation for the land acquired from them and regularization of abadi land. The authorities acquired hectares of land at ‘cheap rates’ and sold it to private builders.
“Our future is bleak with no employment opportunities in the absence of land rights, so we have decided to go semi-nude,” said Manveer Bhati, a Kisan Sangharsh Samiti leader.