Police opened lathicharge and fired tear gas shells to quell the mob which damaged many vehicles and tried to set them on fire. Apart from several protestors, seven policemen, including an additional SP and deputy SP rank officer, were injured in the melee.
Trouble started when the UPSIDA team tried to begin work at the site and the farmers began pelting stones at the JCB machines brought in for heavy digging. The work has been stalled for the past three years since the farmers began agitating for more compensation.
UPSIDA’s chief engineer Sandeep Chandra, who came under attack, said the decision to begin the work at the site was taken in consultation with the district administration. But before the work could begin, the hostile crowd attacked.
“The farmers have been adequately compensated and they were being misled by vested interests”, said Devesh Pandey, district magistrate, Unnao.
“The farmers began throwing stones when the additional SP and additional DM were holding talks with them. Most of the farmers are with us but there are a few contractors who instigate them as they want to use the acquired land. The administration will take stern action against such people,” he said.
While the DM claimed the situation was under control, the farmers regrouped and staging a sit-in. They refused to leave the site till their demands were accepted.
With the situation going out of control, force drawn from 13 police stations was rushed in. The police resorted to lathicharge and fired tear gas shells, apart from using water cannons, said MP Verma, SP Unnao. An additional SP, deputy SP and five other policemen were injured in the stone pelting, he said.
The police have arrested Professor VN Pal who was injured in the clash with several others. Raids are being conducted to arrest the other leaders, including Surendra Yadav and Harendra Nigam.
Annu Tandon, former Congress MP, Unnao, said one of the farmers’ demands that since per rules land was not utilised for five years after acquisition, so it should be returned to them, was valid. The land was acquired in 2013 and no work had begun till date. The attack on the farmers was deplorable and the Congress supported the the agitation.
The Mulayam Singh Yadav government had first proposed the Trans-Ganga City in 2003 but since the compensation was too small, the farmers rejected it. Four years later, in 2007 the BSP government increased the compensation amount from Rs 2, 51,000 per bigha to Rs 5,51,000. The acquisition began during the Akhilesh Yadav government’s tenure, which revived the project and paid Rs 31.9 billion or Rs 12, 51,000 per bigha of land. In addition, the UPSIDA gave the farmers 6% of developed land.
This proposed modern, clean and green city, which sprawls over 1156 acres of land, was conceptualised to spur private investment of Rs 10,000 crore and creation of 100,000 jobs. The leaders have been claiming the farmers were tricked into giving away their land, which was taken for something else and UPSIDA was selling it at premium prices. They demand compensation at the current market rate and have been agitating for the past three years.
Prasanta Patnaik