Hundreds of farmers demonstrated here today to demand the passing of the Land Acquisition Bill by Parliament, higher compensation for their lands and rehabilitation schemes for their children. Close to 700 farmers from Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of the Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson, Dhirendra Singh, staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar. The event was hosted by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan. Singh blamed the opposition parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for deliberately stalling the passing of the bill in the monsoon session. "The bill could not be taken up as the House was adjourned several times. So, a peaceful march by farmers was the only option and then present a memorandum to Parliament. The memorandum addressed to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar, reads that no member of either House has talked about the farmers' problems in the monsoon session. It also reads that the opposition leaders not only ignored the kisan (farmer), but many families dependent on them. They destroyed environment without a clear vision of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement," he said. The Uttar Pradesh Government had requisitioned land for building the Yamuna Expressway, connecting Delhi to Agra. The land acquisition began in 2007 for the Yamuna Expressway, which is being constructed across Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra districts of UP. In 2011, people protested against the enforced land acquisition by the UP Government. The protests were centred at Bhatta Parsaul in Greater Noida. Hari Dutt Sharma, a farmer who was part of the demonstration today, said that farmers should be paid higher rates for their land. He says that the government buys land from farmers at Rs 800 per sq m. It then sells the land to private builders for Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per sq m. Mozam Khan, who is part of the sangthan, said that the private builder then sells the land to the common man for Rs 40,000 per sq m. "Loot is happening. This should be stopped and private builders should be in direct communication with the farmers for buying their land," he said. The land belonging to the farmers should not be sold to the private builders for making hotels and setting up commercial enterprises. "The land should be given for building roads, railways and hospitals," said Sharma. Another demand of the farmers is that their families and children should be provided education and employment. "After our land is taken away, we have no other means of income. Our lands were forcefully taken away and that is why the Bhatta Parsaul agitations happened. Many farmers died. Those injured were not even given compensation by the government. If the Land Acquisition Bill is passed, we can give our consent to sell our land," he said. Manoj Kumar, a farmer who belongs to Bhaipur village in Gautam Budh Nagar district, UP, says that there are about 40 people in his village who allegedly paid money to touts to receive the government compensation for their land. "In May, I was getting Rs 4.62 crore to sell my 17 bigahs of land to the Yamuna authority. I had to give Rs 4.12 lakh to a tout so that I could receive my compensation," he added. According to sources, farmers who came from the adjoining areas of Delhi did not even pay toll tax at DND.