Farmers demand better deal, violence spreads

Even before the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) could heave a sigh of relief after farmers of Aligarh and Mathura agreed on Tuesday to end their agitation against the Yamuna Expressway project, violent protests erupted again spreading to fresh areas.

What has the state administration worried is the rift within the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (KSS), with a section of agitators bent on continuing the struggle. They feel the struggle would better prices for their land, which has been acquired by the government for the expressway.

On Tuesday, violence broke out in Chaughan and Gadhirami areas of Agra adjacent to the proposed Yamuna Expressway, as farmers attacked a police party demanding higher compensation.

The fresh violence virtually negates the agreement the government made with KSS leaders in Aligarh late on Monday night. Chief minister Mayawati’s special messenger, cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh, talked to farmer leaders, including Rambabu Katheria whose arrest had sparked off the violence initially.

Under the agreement, the government increased the land rates payable to farmers from Rs449 to Rs570 per square metre. The cabinet secretary also made it clear that the government would not acquire land forcefully.

However, the deal seems to have come unstuck with bickering within the KSS. “We will continue with the agitation till the government pays at least Rs700 per sq m,” Manvir Singh Kevatia, a prominent KSS leader, told reporters on Tuesday after a panchayat discussed the issue. Strangely, Katheria skipped the meeting.