Loni farmers stage ‘zameen samadhi’, demand higher compensation for land

Ghaziabad: A group of farmers from Mandola in Ghaziabad’s Loni dug up trenches and sat on a ‘zameen samadhi’ on Wednesday seeking enhanced compensation for the 2,614-acre land that the Uttar Pradesh Housing Board had acquired from them under the Mandola Vihar Housing Scheme. As a part of the protest, organised under the aegis of Kisan Satyagraha Andolan (KSA), 17 farmers have entered waist-deep pits and threatened to stay put till their demands were met.
“We have been protesting for more than four years but our demands have gone unheeded. So, we are left with no other option than to intensify the agitation. We will sit on ‘zameen samidhi’ till the authorities listen to us,” Manvendra Singh Teotia, a farmers’ leader, said.
In 2010, the UP housing board had acquired 2,614 acres of land from 1,000 farmers under the Mandola Vihar Housing Scheme and compensation was paid at a mutually agreed rate of Rs 1,100 per sq metre. So far, a total compensation of Rs 1,109 crore has been paid to 94% of the farmers.
According to Ghaziabad ADM (administration) Ritu Suhas, farmers are demanding four times the land rate, in keeping with the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. “We are ready for talks with the agitating farmers, but now they have clubbed their demands to the three farm laws knowing fully well that it is not in our hands but for the central government to decide,” she said.
Suhas said the ‘zameen samadhi’ was an attempt to put pressure on the administration. “We held talks with the farmers on Wednesday but without any results. They are being invited for a fresh round of talks with the Ghaziabad district magistrate now. We hope to end the impasse very soon,” Suhas added.
The KSA has been demanding a minimum support price (MSP) on 23 crops around the year. While it has extended support to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s agitation against the farm laws, the KSA, Teotia said, were not demanding a repeal of the three laws.
According to Neeraj Tyagi, one of the farmers sitting on ‘zameen samadhi’, their prime land was taken away for a pittance. “We are demanding enhanced compensation under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. Our ‘zameen samadhi’ will continue indefinitely and till that time protesters will remain in the trench round-the-clock. Sevenarmers are also on hunger strike,” Tyagi said.
An official from UP Housing Board, meanwhile, said, “The notification for the project came out in 1998 and compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act prevailing at that time has already been paid to most of the farmers. The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, came much later and is not applicable to this project.”
As per the scheme, 11,000 housing units are to be constructed on the land in 15 years. The housing board had started work in 2007, but it has been stalled due to the ongoing farmers’ agitation.