16 May,2011 07:09 AM IST | | Amit Singh
While the protest of farmers in Greater Noida against the acquisition of their land by the state government for development is still in news, a similar case has surfaced in the national capital. Though the land acquisition was made almost two decades ago, the compensation issue hasn't been settled completely till now.
Naresh Chauhan,u00a0 a resident of village Nagli Razapur near Sarai Kale Khan, recently filed a court complaint against Delhi Government accusing it of having acquired land of 85 farmers in his village 18 years ago, without granting all of them adequate compensation till now.
Prime plot: DDA land opposite Mayur Vihar Phase-1 in New Delhi.
Pic/Subhash Barolia
Ground reality
His complaint reads, "The Delhi government acquired the agricultural land of all 85 farmers of our area 18 years ago for development. Now, we are running from pillar to post to obtain a recommendation letter for an alternative plot that is entitled to each of us, but repeated visits to the office of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the Land and Building in Alternative Branch, Govt. of NCT of Delhi and various other departments have yielded no results. It's been 18 years and we are still waiting."
Corruption
Chauhan, who lost his father eight years ago, is the sole breadwinner of his family. He fears that this land predicament is nowhere near its end. "There is organised corruption in the land and building department. Some of the villagers have even died in this fight for justice while others were forced to take help of brokers who were equally corrupt," he rues.
Only 29 of the 85 farmers whose land had been acquired have been given alternate plots entitled to them as per the government policy. The remaining 56 farmers are still unaware of the status and position of their applications. "Some of the farmers have sold their slips to the brokers who managed to get an alternate plot on that. We have been fighting hard but so far have not got any land on those slips," alleged, Roshan, another villager.
No response
When repeated visits to government offices proved futile, Chauhan filed an RTI application seeking the status of his case, but no response has been given to that too till date. The DDA authorities, however, deny any injustice, citing procedural delays. "We understand what's going on and justice will be done to all those who have suffered. Sometimes, there are bureaucratic reasons for the delay, and that are beyond an individual officer's control. We are looking into the matter," said an official on condition of anonymity.u00a0
24 years and waiting
According to the Land and Building Department, nearly 10,000 people in the national Capital are waiting to get the alternate plots they were promised in lieu of agricultural land acquired for developmental purposes. In some cases, more than 24 years have elapsed. In 2008, a total of 8455 applications by farmers for alternative plots against acquisition of their land were pending with the Land and Building Department.u00a0 Three years later, the position remains the same.
Protest in Greater Noida
On May 7, 2011, farmers of Bhatta-Parsaul village in Greater Noida clashed with police while they were demanding higher price for the land acquired by the government agencies for development projects. The clash left six persons dead.
The Opposition parties blamed the state government for the deaths and accused it of forcibly acquiring land of the farmers. Prohibatory orders were issued and entry of political leaders and social activists was banned in Bhatta-Parsaul. However, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi managed to sneak into the village riding pillion on a motorcycle and staged a day long dharna along with other Congress leaders, demanding judicial inquiry into the incident. Rahul was arrested and sent back but his visit made Bhatta-Parsaul a big political issue, resulting in embarrassment of the Maya government.
Stir in Singur
Singur, a small town in Hoogly district of West Bengal hit the national headlines last year after the residents there launched a massive protest against the government for acquiring 997 acres of multi crop land for a car factory to be constructed by TATA motors. The imbroglio took a tragic turn when the state government sent in police force that opened fire on agitating villagers. Fourteen people were killed in the police firing.
