The death of a farmer in Bita, who was among the protesters demanding better compensation for the land acquired by the State government, triggered a protest by angry villagers who blocked road traffic on Friday and demanded that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar come to the spot.
It was the fourth incident in recent times of a farmer dying in the State. Earlier, Ramesh Singh, Bharat Sharma and Gajendra Singh allegedly committed suicide after a bad crop.
Septuagenarian Kaushal Kishore was among the hundreds of farmers from Bihta, some 30 km from Patna, sitting on dharna for the last fortnight. He collapsed on Thursday and was admitted to a private hospital where he died on Friday. Officials said Kaushal Kishore may have collapsed due to the intense heat wave in the State.
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The State government had acquired approximately 1,700 acres, spread across 12 villages, between 2005 and 2007 for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and an industrial park. The villagers are demanding equal price for their land irrespective of the year it was acquired.
“Farmers who gave up their lands earlier have been paid less,” said the protesting farmers. “If the government doesn’t listen to us now we’ll forcibly occupy the acquired land.”
The agitating farmers blocked the Patna-Aurangabad road with Kaushal Kishore’s body. Senior district official reached the spot and assured the farmers that the process of handing out better compensation was already in process. “Hopefully it will be done very soon,” said Abhay Kumar, district magistrate of Patna.
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Ramesh Singh and his wife committed suicide three days ago by taking some poisonous substance at Chechaul village in Naubatpur area of Patna. Earlier, Bharat Sharma jumped to his death from the roof of his house in Khijrisarai of Gaya district. Gajendra Singh of Maner, near Patna, committed suicide allegedly because the government had not procured his paddy and wheat crops damaged due to the bad weather.