The Uttar Pradesh governments decision to scrap the project for a township along the Yamuna Expressway near Aligarh and the interchange to link the town with the Expressway has divided the farmers. While one group ended their month-long agitation on Saturday,another has come out in support of the project and started a dharna at Tappal on Sunday to press the government to reconsider its decision. They have started mobilisation under the banner of newly-formed body,Tappal Vikas Samiti,headed by Chandra Prakash Panchal,a former president of BSPs Aligarh unit. The farmers say the scrapping of the project is against the farmers interest. It will hit the development of the area and send the land prices crashing. Reports from Aligarh said the government decision had also created a serious problem for farmers who had accepted payment for land and invested it in various businesses which are yet to stabilise. They are no position to pay back,should the government decide to return their lands. As many as 1,300 farmers had received compensation in the five affected villages of Tappal,Jikarpur,Kripalpur,Kansera and Syarol. In all,488 acres belonging to around 2,300 farmers was earmarked for the township. Another 48 hectares was meant for the interchange. The township was one of five which had been offered to J P Group,the developer of the Expressway,as a sweetener. Aligarh District Magistrate K Ravindra Naik confirmed that a section of farmers wants the township project to stay. They have submitted their memorandum,we will convey their demand to the government, Naik said. These farmers say scrapping of the project was never their demand. The agitation was for a higher compensation rate, said Vasudev Gautam,a villager of Tappal. He said he had invested the compensation money in land in Hathras and Tappal towns. Another villager,Pandit Kishan Sharma,said: My son has bought a tanker to transport petroleum products and I have also invested in other business. I cant repay the money. Ram Babu Katelia had initially mobilised the farmers for demanding higher compensation. After his arrest on August 14,the agitation turned violent. Later,the state government released him and announced a revision of the compensation rate from Rs 434 per metre to Rs 570 per metre. Katelia then appealed to the farmers to accept the new rate,but the more aggressive men in the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti disowned him as Mayawatis man and decided to continue the agitation. The initial demand was for compensation at Rs 870 per metre,which was paid to farmers of Greater Noida. The Samiti then raised the pitch,saying the government should not acquire land at all. Contacted on the phone,Katelia said,The farmers have got nothing. It is complete loss for them. He said he had tried to tell the farmers that the government would cancel the project if the revised rate was not accepted,but no one listened. Katelia said some farmers of Mathura had told him that they would like the township project shifted to their area and had requested him to take up the matter with the government,but I have no interest in the matter now, he said. Manvir Singh Teotia,who replaced Katelia,said the Samiti agitation was never meant for scrapping of the project,but was for recognising the farmers right to fix the price of their land. The government was in haste. But I have nothing to say about it, he replied. Asked if the farmers have not been the losers,Teotia said: Tappal is part of notified area. There will be land acquisition in future also. So,our agitation was successful. Maya turnaround due to Rahul,says Congress New Delhi: The Congress has credited AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi for the Uttar Pradesh governments turnaround on the compensation package for farmers whose land is acquired. We welcome the decision of the UP government to give a package similar to that of Haryana which Rahul Gandhi had demanded in a memorandum to the Prime Minister, AICC general secretary in charge of UP Digvijay Singh said here on Saturday,adding that it was a major climbdown by Mayawati government. He said the pressure of Congress and the visit of Rahul Gandhi to Tappal had forced the stated government to change its compensation policy. Digvijay Singh,however,said unlike Haryana there were a few shortcomings in the package which should be rectified. There is no provision for the landless in the package announced, he said. Singh said the Haryana government provides for skill development of the displaced which has not been provided by the UP government. He said 2 per cent of the total project cost was spent by the Haryana government on social infrastructure development in the township concerned,a provision which is not there in UPs revised package.ens Rehab package misleading: BKU MUZAFFARNAGAR: The president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU),Mahendra Singh Tikait,alleged on Sunday that the fresh proposal to acquire farm land in Uttar Pradesh was unacceptable to the farmers and threatened to launch an agitation if it was forcibly implemented. The package is misleading. The government announced the new policy without taking the farmers into confidence, he said. If the government tried to acquire land against the wishes of the farmers,BKU will launch an agitation,he added. Under the new land acquisition policy announced on Friday,every farmer who lets the government acquire his land gets Rs 1.85 lakh per acre for the next five years. Other farmers can choose between taking an annuity of Rs 20,000 per acre for the next 33 years,or taking Rs 2.4 lakh per acre as a one-time pay-off. PTI
