Anil humbled,Dadri farmers eye govt relief

“It has been established that the previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government committed grave injustice on the farmers of Dadri,whose land were acquired for peanuts and handed over to the Ambanis,” said Vinod Singh,Convener of the Kisan Manch.

“The farmers were prevented by the state government for five years from tilling their own land. Now the UP government should pay the damages to the farmers,” added Singh.

The court has given 30 days to the affected farmers to return the compensation they had received from the RDPPL and take possession of their land.

“We welcome the verdict,but the order directing the farmers to return the compensation has put the farmers in a difficult position as none of them are in a capacity to repay the amount,” said Singh.

“For over five years,the farmers were not allowed to till their land and today they are under huge debt. So how can they return the compensation,” said Singh.

According to him,the state government should give the farmers subsidy and soft loan so that they can pay back the compensation.

Around 2,500 acres of land spread across seven villages was acquired for the power plant,whereby around 8,000 farmers had to part with their multi-crop cultivable land. Of them,only 30 per cent had received full compensation,15 per cent did not receive a penny and the rest — little over 50 per cent — got only a part of the compensation

The Kisan Manch,floated by the late prime minister V P Singh,who

had spearheaded the battle,has convened a Kisan Panchayat at Bajhera village of Dadri on December 13. The panchayat has been called to decide future course of action in the wake of the court verdict quashing the land acquisition. The panchayat will also decide over filing a petition in the court seeking extension of deadline of 30 days for returning the compensation.

A panchayat will honour all the leaders and small parties and organisations that lent their support to their struggle. Raj Babbar,Congress MP from Ferozabad,has also been invited to attend the panchayat on December 13 at Dadri.