On a day when the country?s longest and most ambitious access-controlled concrete expressway, the 165-km Yamuna Expressway, was inaugurated by UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, protesting farmers of Tappal block in Aligarh?who have had a long-running feud with both the developer Jaypee Infratech as well as the Uttar Pradesh government on the issue of land acquisition for the development of a township on the side of the expressway ? had something to cheer about.
At the inauguration ceremony in Lucknow on Thursday, the industrial development commissioner Anil Kumar Gupta announced that not a single farmer?s land will be acquired without his consent. Instead, all the dissenting farmers, who had scattered plots all over the 500 hectare land parcel on which the developer will build a township, will be grouped together and given a contagious patch of land at one place. This would facilitate both the developer, who can carry on with the plans to develop the area in a compact way, and the farmers, said an official.
Around 180 farmers of Tappal block had refused to accept the compensation for their plots and weren?t being allowed to plough their fields as the state government had already notified the area for the land parcel. The total area belonging to these 180 farmers was around 80 hectares but was scattered all over the 500 hectare land parcel that had been identified and awarded to the developer. The farmers have been staging dharnas and protesting against any development activity in the area.
?No land would be acquired without the consent of farmers. The SP had said in its election manifesto that no land would be taken without the consent of farmers. If they do not permit, the SP government will not take any decision,? Yadav said while inaugurating the Expressway.
