After protests, Agra farmers to get higher compensation

Faced with protests, Uttar Pradesh government has offered the farmers of Agra district an enhanced compensation package for the land acquired from them for the Yamuna Expressway project.

UP Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh made the announcement on Wednesday night after a meeting with farmers' representatives in Agra.

The government had on Tuesday made a similar offer to protesting farmers of Aligarh. The additional compensation of Rs 121 per square metre will be given to the farmers of affected villages in Agra in form of a special relief, Singh said.

With this, 'compensation to farmers will be Rs 580 per square metre,' he said.

The farmers had been holding demonstrations for nearly three weeks in villages along the expressway demanding more compensation.

Four persons, including a PAC jawan, had died in clashes between agitating farmers and police over the weekend in Aligarh district.

After the meeting with farmers, in which three ministers and local Bahujan Samaj Party member of legislative assembly was also present, Singh had told mediaperons in Agra that the farmers were now 'happy' with the package.

He said jobs will be given to all the farmers whose total land has been acquired. Besides, farmers of Agra would also be paid additional amount for crop, boring well in their fields, Singh said promising farmers that cases lodged against two persons, involved in the protests in the district, will be withdrawn.

The state government also decided that cheques for the compensation would be distributed by holding camps.

Chief Minister Mayawati in a statement issued in Lucknow said that the state government was committed to safeguarding the interests of the farmers.

After the talks with the cabinet secretary, the farmers announced that they are calling off their dharna regarding compensation in Agra, the government claimed.

In a fresh proposal to the farmers of Aligarh, the government had said it will hike the compensation to Rs 570 per square metre from existing Rs 449 per square metre.

The lands of about 1,182 villages in the districts of Agra, Mathura, Aligarh, Mahamaya Nagar (Hathras) and Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) have been notified by the state for acquisition for the 165-km-long Yamuna Expressway (formerly the Taj Expressway), from Greater Noida to Agra.