NEW DELHI: The Delhi-Noida border areas came to a grinding halt on Thursday as hundreds of farmers demanding increased compensation and developed plots in lieu of their acquired land and were stopped by the police near Mahamaya Flyover from marching towards Parliament. Some farmers even tried to scale the barricades but were pushed back by the security personnel.
With another tractor march by the farmers of Haryana and Punjab to Delhi being planned on Tuesday, three Union ministers -- commerce minister Piyush Goyal, junior agriculture minister Arjun Munda and junior home minister Nityanand Rai -- and a Central government delegation have been rushed to Chandigarh to address their concerns.
The protesting farmers in the two states are demanding a law to guarantee minimum support prices for crops, pensions for farmers, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, crop insurance and the quashing of FIRs registered against the farmers during the 2020-21 protests.
In Ambala, the police has asked farmers not to participate without permission in a planned march to Delhi next week and warned them of strict action if they damage public property. The police has issued notices to the farmers’ organisations gearing up to take part in the “Delhi Chalo” agitation on February 13.
As the hours ticked by on Thursday, there were reports of scuffles between farmers and the police near the Delhi-Noida border, and several protesters were even detained. The police had even banned large gatherings in Gautam Budh Nagar to stop the farmers from amassing in the district or entering Delhi. The district police had also issued a traffic advisory.
Visuals from the Chilla border showed a similarly tense scene, with farmers and the police pushing and shoving each other. Motorists had to spend hours in the crawling traffic as the police personnel with heavy equipment were on alert to restrict movement on the road at the Delhi-Noida border near Mayur Vihar. Long queues of vehicles choked the roads as several two-wheelers and four-wheelers got stuck in the jam at Sarita Vihar. A heavy traffic jam was also reported on the Delhi-Noida highway. The protesting farmers finally dispersed at about 6 pm.
Heavy security cover by the state police along with Central paramilitary forces had been deployed to maintain law and order. Pickets and barricades were installed in the border areas connecting Delhi-Haryana and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh. Farmers from more than 140 villages in Noida and Greater Noida have been protesting since December 2023 in support of their demands.
Four protests were held in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. The Jai Jawan Jai Kisan organisation headed the protest against the Ansal builders, the All India Kisan Sabha against Greater Noida Authority and the Bharatiya Kisan Parishad at the National Thermal Power Corporation headquarters in Sector 24 and Noida Authority in Sector 6.
The four organisations had called a Mahapanchayat on Wednesday at the Greater Noida Authority office, where a decision was taken to march to Parliament on Thursday, demanding the resolution of their issues in a time-bound manner.
The farmers have two major demands. First, as compensation for their land acquired by the authorities for different development projects, they have sought 10 per cent of residential plots for their families on the developed land.
The farmers argue that most of their land was acquired, making them landless. They are concerned on how their families and future generations would survive even as the government boasts of development by taking their land.
Currently, the Noida Authority grants the farmers five per cent of the total acquired land, which they have termed insufficient. The Greater Noida Authority gives them six per cent of the developed plot while the Yamuna Authority gives them seven per cent as land acquisition compensation.
Besides, the farmers are demanding an additional monetary compensation -- amounts based on market rates when the land was acquired for different projects. The farmers allege that their land was acquired many years ago at a cheap rate and they are suffering even now as a consequence. The farmers have also been demanding jobs and medical facilities for their families for the last several months. The authority officials said they are in talks with farmer leaders and an amicable solution would be reached soon.
In Punjab, no farmer organisation has so far sought any permission for the protest, Ambala SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha had announced that farmers would march to Delhi on February 13 to press the Centre for accepting its demands. More than 200 farmers' unions from across the country are expected to participate in the “Delhi Chalo” march.
The police has already stocked up concrete blocks, barbed wire, sandbags, barricades and other items at the Shambhu border in Ambala to stop protesters from marching towards Delhi. Farmers have planned to head to Delhi from the Ambala-Shambhu border, Khanauri-Jind and the Dabwali border.
In 2020, a large number of farmers from Punjab and nearby areas of Ambala gathered at the Shambhu border and broke through police barriers to march towards Delhi. Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, held a year-long protest on Delhi's border points -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur -- against the three now-repealed farm laws.
