Noida: Farmers end protest after meeting with authority officials

A group of farmers led by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Tikait), who blocked the Noida Expressway on Monday seeking hiked compensation, among other demands, ended their protest on Tuesday after a meeting with top officials of the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities.

The meeting that went on till late evening was held at the Noida authority’s main administrative building in Sector 6. The farmers’ demands include 10% developed plots against their land acquired for the development, 64% hiked compensation, Abadi settlement, leaseback of residential land acquired for various projects and job quota in the private sector.

“Top officials discussed our issues in detail and assured that they will address all our demands. The Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities have already started leasing back the residential land acquired from farmers. The Noida authority has also assured that it will soon start the process initially in four villages. The three authorities also said that they will organise camps to employ the youth in villages as per their qualification,” said Sunil Pradhan, BKU-Tikait media in-charge, Gautam Budh Nagar.

Pradhan also said that if the demands are not met till November 15, then the famers y will again start the agitation.

Officials from the three authorities said that they have started taking steps to address the farmers’ key demands.

“We have already leased back the land to eligible farmers in the past, solving their cases related to this. And now those who are yet to complete the process can do so immediately as we are ready to do it at the earliest,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), who discussed the issues in the meeting.

Yeida on Tuesday also appealed to farmers of 35 villages to complete necessary paperwork related to the leaseback.

The Noida authority’s officer on special duty (OSD), Indu Prakash Singh, said, “We have assured the farmers that the authority will organise camps to employ the youth. We will also address their other demands too.”

Meanwhile, another farmer group that has been protesting over the issue of Abadi land for the past 49 days decided to continue its protest against the Noida authority. “We will not end our protest until the authority take a decision on Abadi land in its board meeting,” said Sukhbir Yadav of Kisan Ekta Parishad, who is leading the protest.

Officials of the Noida authority said that the issues faced by these farmers are being looked into. “We are discussing the issues of farmers. We are open to address the issues as per the law,” said Singh, OSD of the authority.

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