Noida: Farmers from Uttar Pradesh called off their day-long protest at the Delhi-Noida border Thursday evening after the authorities assured them that their demands will be assessed.
Farmers seeking better prices for land acquired for different projects and development schemes had called for a march to Parliament Thursday, leading to heavy police deployment and restrictions on the borders between Delhi and Noida.
This led to heavy traffic congestion. However, the jams began to clear up after the farmers ended their agitation.
At the time of publishing this report, farmers’ representatives were holding a meeting with the Noida Police commissioner. They have been told that a committee will look into their issues and come up with a decision in eight days.
“We had a word with the commissioner. She has constituted a high-powered committee,” said farmer leader Sukhbir Khalifa.
“The committee will decide how genuine our issues are… We will fight for our rights. If we are still ignored and led astray, we will march to Delhi. We are vacating the road for now. We have a meeting with the commissioner at 8 pm,” he added.
Farmer Sandeep Kumar, who participated in the protest, told ThePrint that their “demands are simple”.
“The government has sought eight days. We will wait until then. If nothing happens, we will gather again in large numbers,” he said.
A senior police officer present at the protest site confirmed what the farmers said, adding that the “police force will remain” at the borders for now even though the agitation had ended.
Earlier in the day, farmers from 140 villages from Noida and Greater Noida had come together for their planned march to Parliament. The decision to hold a march was decided at a mahapanchayat held in Greater Noida Wednesday.
The farmers’ two main demands are, a) fair compensation for the lands taken for development schemes, and 10 percent of residential plots for their families on the developed land, and b) additional monetary compensation based on market rates for land acquired for different projects “many years ago at a cheap rate”.
The UP Police had stopped the protesting farmers at Chilla border, with cranes and bulldozers deployed to this end. Surveillance was also carried out through drone cameras.
The traffic restrictions had led Gautam Buddha Nagar Police to issue an advisory for commuters to avoid certain routes. Section 144 of the CrPc was also imposed in the area on account of the protest.
Meanwhile, on 13 February, the farmers of Haryana and Punjab are planning to come to Delhi in tractors to put pressure on the government over certain demands, including a guarantee on minimum support price for their crops.
The protest is being led by the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, while the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which led the farmers’ movement in 2020-21, has distanced itself from it.
To ensure that there is no farmer agitation in the election year, three senior ministers of the central government, including Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, will meet farmer representatives in Chandigarh.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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