Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting at Gurugram’s Sultanpur village here on Monday, to inaugurate the 83-km-long Kundli-Manesar section of the much-delayed Western Peripheral Expressway, there was widespread resentment among the farmers in several villages along the highway on Sunday.
Fields of many of these farmers were acquired for the construction of the Western Peripheral Expressway, also known as Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway, over a decade ago. They have now opposed the BJP government’s proposal to set up five big cities, or panchagram , along the highway. The farmers have alleged that it would render hundreds of farmers and farm labourers jobless and only help developers and industrialists.
Shamsher Singh, a farmer and a resident of Kundal village, said the farmers were not against development in the region, but were demanding that they should also be partners in it. Singh (42) alleged that the government had declared over six lakh hectares of land along the KMP as controlled area without notification and did not specify the purpose as well.
“It is wrong to snatch lands from farmers and hand those over to big corporates and developers. Any development plan for the area must include the farmers as the partners,” he said.
Hans Raj Rana said the proposal to develop the five cities along the highway would render hundreds of people jobless. He also sought to know if the government had any plan for their rehabilitation.
Indefinite dharna
Holding an indefinite dharna at Saidpur Chowk near Kharkhoda village here since February 15, 2011, under the aegis of Bhumi Bachchao Sangarsh Samiti against alleged faulty land acquisition for KMP, Mr. Rana said the farmers in Haryana were facing discrimination. He said that the people living in villages along the Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal Expressway were given heftier compensation for land acquired for the construction of the expressway.
“While farmers in Uttar Pradesh got ₹3-4 crore per acre, farmers in five Haryana districts along the road were paid meagre ₹20-80 lakh per acre. When the purpose of acquisition is the same, why is there a difference in compensation?,” said the 62-year-old.
Mr. Rana also alleged that the Haryana government had failed to rehabilitate the farmers from whom lands were acquired for the expressway, adding that they were also not paid the annual royalty of ₹21,000 per acre, as promised.
Singh said that the highway had dissected the lands of various farmers forcing them to take de-tours of several kilometres to reach their own farm. He said irrigation channels at several places were also cut off. He further said that a large number of farmers wanted the KMP to be named after farmers’ leader Sir Chhotu Ram, but their demand was not met by the government.
Farmers’ leader Pradeep Dhankar (47) said there was anger among the farmers for not getting the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their crops and over imposing of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana on them.
Despite the announcement made by the government, a very small percentage of their crop was bought at the MSP, Mr. Dhankar alleged. He said that farmers were dying by suicide due to crop failures or after not getting the proper price, but there was no political leader to raise voice for them.
“The share of agriculture in Gross Domestic Product has been rapidly falling and the farmers are only being exploited as voters during the election season,” he added.
