Farmers at Barwala village in North-West Delhi who are demanding higher compensation for their land acquired by the Delhi Development Authority and had stalled work at a site where nearly 19,000 flats for economically weaker sections are to be constructed, alleged that on Saturday women of the village were attacked with stones by henchmen of the construction company that had won the contract.
The Kisan Khetihar Majdoor Sangathan, which has been spearheading the struggle for the past one year, said the women had gone to pluck some vegetables in the morning near the construction site when the incident occurred.
Work at the site has been stalled for the past 11 days after almost 1,500 farmers courted arrest since a deadline they had set for the Delhi Government to intervene to hike their land compensation rates expired. Spokesperson for farmers Praveen Kumar claimed the land was “acquired from them in 2005 at low rates of Rs.325 per square yard, and later in 2009 at Rs.500-Rs.550 per square yard, while a few km away in Rohini the DDA was auctioning residential plots for lakhs.”
Mr. Kumar said the “stone-throwing was the handiwork of outsiders who were trying to instil fear in the village folk and to foil their movement which was now gaining momentum.”
The Assistant Commissioner of Police and the Station House Officer in charge of the area arrived at the scene and brought the situation under control, he said.
The matter is also pending in the Delhi High Court. Besides the EWS flats scheme, another project undertaken by the DDA in the area was demarcation of residential plots for allottees of the 1981 housing scheme at Rohini.
The farmers' body said what was vexing them most was the Delhi Government and Congress party's failure to respond to their demands, despite the stand taken by the party in support of Bhatta Parsaul farmers.
