Agitating Noida farmers assured demands will be met

By IANS,

Noida: Noida CEO Balvinder Singh Monday visited agitating farmers, who had threatened to stall building projects in the area to press for their demands, and assured them their grievances will be considered sympathetically.


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The CEO said the authority would consider returning five percent land from its acquired land pool.

“If any error has been committed in identifying the land to be acquired, the authority would correct the mistake and would return the land to its owner,” he said during his visit to Sorkha village where the protests are on.

He also announced that the authority would construct a reinforced cement concrete (RCC) road in the village worth Rs.7 crore, and also granted Rs. 1 crore for the construction of a community marriage home there.

“The errors committed by the state in identifying the khasras (plots) in 850 acres have been put under process to be corrected in revenue records, and where the farmers have been physically found residing in their farms, such land also would be excluded from acquisition process,” the CEO assured farmers’ leader Naresh Yadav.

Earlier, the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (farmers’ struggle committee) announced the farmers would disrupt the work of all builders along Yamuna Expressway if their demands were not met by July 31. They extended the date after talks with the CEO.

A mahapanchayat – farmers’ extended council – was held at Sorkha village Sunday in which farmers from Sorkha, Sarfabad, Barola, Salarpur and Kakrala asked the Noida authority to fulfil their demands by the date, otherwise they would stop all activities of the builders.

“We granted more time since the new CEO has just taken charge. He needs time to know the facts, hence the time has been extended from July 31 to Aug 5,” Yadav said.

About 650 acres of Sorkha land was reportedly acquired by the authority while nearly 120 acres was purchased by it directly from the farmers through mutual negotiations over a period of time in 2001, 2006 and 2010.

All farmers whose lands were acquired or purchased directly by the authority were eligible to get a plot of five percent size in a developed sector.

Yadav said that while many farmers from Sorkha, Sarfabad and Barola managed to get plots in Sector 112, many others were denied plots on “some pretext or the other”.

“Now a new ray of hope is arising to settle all disputes since the new CEO seems positive to farmers’ problems,” he added.

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