Land acquisition row: Tappal tense again

The police claims that since 2009,the land is owned by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). Later,it was given to Jaypee Infratech on lease for 90 years.

The farmers,however,allege that the land was forcibly taken from them without giving them a hearing by invoking the ‘urgency clause’ of the Land Acquisition Act.

AK Singh,Station House Officer of Tappal,said: “Following a notification done two years back,the land became the property of YEIDA. Farmers trying to sow crops on it means damage to public property. We have lodged an FIR against five farmers. Additional police force has been deployed and the situation is under control.”

Those named in the FIR are Gajraj,Alah Noor,Kale Khan,Ram Veer and Shiv Lal,all residents of Jikarpur village. The farmers are adamant on cultivating the land because,they say,they had never sold the land,nor signed any agreement with the administration.

An official said: “Jaypee Infratech has been given 500 hectare land for the township project. About 35 farmers — holding about 75 hectare of land — are yet to sign an agreement with the government. But the land has been notified under section 17 (4),so it comes into possession of YEIDA.”

He alleged that “only 10-12 farmers were creating trouble due to political motivation.”

Muneem Singh,one of the farmers,however,said: “We do not wish to part with our land. The district administration did its best to displace us by uprooting our tubewells and destroying our boundary markers,but after the rainfall a few days back,some of us decided to cultivate the land. If the government wants the land,we will settle for nothing less than Rs 5,000 per square metre.”

The government had paid the farmers at the rate of Rs 425 per metre,and raised it to Rs 570 per metre after the agitation last year,in which a policeman and four farmers were killed.

Muneem Singh said some officials had approached the farmers on Tuesday night and asked them to defer the tilling by 15 days.

The farmers’ refusal to part with their land has landed the state government into a difficult situation. While restoring the township project in November 2010,the government had promised that it would not take land forcibly from anyone.