Mayawati hikes compensation for angry farmers

Faced with protests by farmers demanding higher compensation for land acquired for a township along the Taj Expressway, the Mayawati government on Tuesday decided to hike the price offered to them by 20 per cent at Rs 570 per square metre.

A team of top state officials led by state cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and some senior ministers of the Mayawati government held parleys with farmer leader Ram Babu Kateria at the Aligarh airstrip in the early hours of Tuesday.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Aligarh) Satender Veer Singh said, "The package offered by the state government includes the provision of raising the compensation price offered to the farmers to Rs 570 per square metre (nearly 20 per cent higher than the earlier price)".

It is expected that the farmer leaders will place this offer before the kisan panchayat at the dharna site at village Jikarpur and seek its 'ratification'.

Kateria, who is under arrest, is expected to be produced before a judicial magistrate on Tuesday. He is presently at a private nursing home after he had complained of some 'discomfort' on Monday.

The state government has also decided to set up a high-level committee headed by the divisional commissioner to further review all other issues related to the acquisition of farm land along the Noida-Taj Expressway in the district, officials said. After clashes between protesters and the police left four persons, including a Provincial Armed Constabulary jawan, dead, farmers continued their sit-in in the village.

Opposition leaders, including former Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in UP assembly Shiv Pal Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, had on Monday addressed the mahapanchayat and extended support to the agitating farmers.

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav had said that while the farmers were being paid Rs 436 per square metre, it was being given to a private developer at Rs 4,700 per sq metre.

The farmers have been holding demonstrations for nearly three weeks near Aligarh demanding compensation at the rate paid to Noida and Greater Noida farmers. The protests turned violent over the past three days.

The 165 km-long eight-lane expressway is aimed at reducing the driving time between New Delhi and Agra.