Farmers demand denotification

  • 15/10/2008

  • Asian Age (New Delhi)

NEW DELHI The farmers of eight villages from Kanjhawala area in northwest Delhi, who have been demanding higher compensation against land acquisition from the Delhi government, have demanded that the government should denotify all land acquisition and first come up with a detailed report on how much land is left for agricultural purposes. Addressing media persons at a press conference here on Tuesday, Jan Sangharsh Vahini convenor Bhupinder Singh Rawat said that on the one hand, a food crisis was looming large across the world, and on the other, the government in the country was hell bent on giving agricultural land to the industrial houses. Mr Rawat also alleged that action the state government was violating the national rehabilitation and resettlement policy passed by the United Progressive Alliance government. The policy talked about compensating not only the farmers but also the farm workers, share croppers and other people whose livelihood were related to the farming activity going on the land. The farmers, who have been agitating for the past 34 days at the office of the deputy commissioner (northwest), have alleged that the Delhi government has not given them adequate compensation. However, after the agitation intensified, the government increased the total compensation from Rs 345 crores to Rs 699 crores. But the farm ensilaged that this was still way too low than the existing market rates.