The Akhilesh Yadav government of Uttar Pradesh on Friday withdrew the criminal cases filed against 37 farmers of Tappal in Aligarh district during the Mayawati regime.
The cases were filed in August 2010 after some farmers went on an agitation seeking adequate compensation for the land acquired for the Yamuna Expressway project and a township at Tappal.
During the inauguration of the Expressway in August this year, Mr. Yadav announced that the cases would be withdrawn.
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The 37 farmers were charged with ploughing the land acquired by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority and causing damage to public property, the spokesman said.
Bhatta-Parsaul clash
It was in August 2010 that a young farmer was killed in police firing in Tappal as a result of which the farmers’ agitation assumed serious proportions and spread to the neighbouring Mathura and Agra districts.
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In May 2011, four persons, including two policemen, were killed in a farmers-police clash in Bhatta-Parsaul in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. Several farmers, including their leader, Manvendra Singh Tewatia, were arrested and sent to jail by the previous regime.
The farmers’ agitation became a political issue with the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party cornering the Bahujan Samaj Party government on the issue.
No decision has yet been taken by the present regime on withdrawing the cases against the Bhatta-Parsaul farmers.
In April this year, the Chief Minister ordered the withdrawal of cases against 24 other farmers.