Haryana: 21 farmers detained by police during CM Khattar's Yamunanagar visit
Jaskaran Singh | TNN | Apr 6, 2019, 19:28 IST
Farmers who sought a meeting with CM were detained. YAMUNANAGAR: As many as 21 farmers from different villages in Haryana's Yamunanagar district were detained by the police during chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit and Vijay Sankalp Rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Bilaspur on April 3.
As per the information, on April 2, a day before the Haryana CM’s rally at Bilaspur in Yamunanagar district, Bharatiya Kisan Union state organisation secretary Harpal Singh Sudhal had asked for arranging time from district superintendent of police and deputy commissioner (DC) to meet Khattar to hand over a five-point memorandum of demands. Yamunanagar SP and DC confirmed to TOI that Harpal had talked to them.
Harpal said, “The Yamunanagar farmers under Sandeep Gundiana’s (BKU district president) and my leadership had gone to meet the CM to hand over a memorandum of demands, but the CM did not give us time, neither did he listen to us. The security officials did not allow us to meet the CM, while the district police detained 21 of us from the rally spot. I had also requested Yamunanagar MLA Ghanshyam Das Arora in advance to arrange a meeting for just two minutes and he had stated that we would see that on the day of the rally. We kept on waiting from 10am to 1pm on an assurance of meeting, but when nobody listened to us, we started walking towards rally spot while raising our union’s slogans. We did not carry any black flags or anything else and we just wanted to meet the CM and hand over our demands.”
When questioned about demands, he said, “On October 16, 2018, the cases of land belonging to nearly 28 villages, acquired for Yamunanagar bypass and National Highway 73, was decided through arbitration in favour of farmers in the court of additional deputy commissioner (ADC) with the efforts of Haryana CM. Earlier in 2013, we were awarded Rs 25 lakh per acre against our lands by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), but after the case went through arbitration, the farmers were awarded Rs 17.5 lakh per acre more by the ADC court, amounting to a total of Rs 42.5 lakh per acre. We have already received Rs 25 lakh in 2013, but the NHAI has not released the additional awarded amount of Rs 17.5 lakh per acre. An interest of nearly nine per cent is also adding up on this Rs 17.5 lakh. We fear that similar to the way the government had scrapped the Dadupur-Nalvi Canal Project, it could also do the same in this case to avoid releasing higher payments to farmers once the amount strengthens with the addition of interest value on it.”
There were four more demands in the memorandum of farmers, including withdrawal of false cases registered during the farmer’s agitation in Radaur on February 22, 2018; withdrawal of cases registered between 2015-16, when the farmers of village Sudhal stood against the electricity meters; under the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana immediate release of insured paddy crop loss which happened due to rain and hailstorm in 2018; and to withdraw the complex conditions on issuance of new tubewell connections as most of the farmers fails to meet those conditions.
DC Amna Tasneem said, “The farmers’ leader Harpal had asked for time to meet CM to hand over a memorandum of demands and the message was conveyed to SP and BJP’s district president. As per my knowledge, due to ill health, the CM did not stay at the Bilaspur rally for the time period he was scheduled to stay and he had left the rally earlier.”
SP Kuldeep Singh said, “As per my knowledge the farmers had started sloganeering and marching towards the rally spot. Therefore, on-duty staff had to detain them due to security concerns. Moreover, the farmers were not scheduled to meet the CM and it was totally on the onus of his staff or CM to meet the farmers. It was not a government function, but it was BJP's rally and we had conveyed the message to BJP’s district president.”
As per the information, on April 2, a day before the Haryana CM’s rally at Bilaspur in Yamunanagar district, Bharatiya Kisan Union state organisation secretary Harpal Singh Sudhal had asked for arranging time from district superintendent of police and deputy commissioner (DC) to meet Khattar to hand over a five-point memorandum of demands. Yamunanagar SP and DC confirmed to TOI that Harpal had talked to them.
Harpal said, “The Yamunanagar farmers under Sandeep Gundiana’s (BKU district president) and my leadership had gone to meet the CM to hand over a memorandum of demands, but the CM did not give us time, neither did he listen to us. The security officials did not allow us to meet the CM, while the district police detained 21 of us from the rally spot. I had also requested Yamunanagar MLA Ghanshyam Das Arora in advance to arrange a meeting for just two minutes and he had stated that we would see that on the day of the rally. We kept on waiting from 10am to 1pm on an assurance of meeting, but when nobody listened to us, we started walking towards rally spot while raising our union’s slogans. We did not carry any black flags or anything else and we just wanted to meet the CM and hand over our demands.”
When questioned about demands, he said, “On October 16, 2018, the cases of land belonging to nearly 28 villages, acquired for Yamunanagar bypass and National Highway 73, was decided through arbitration in favour of farmers in the court of additional deputy commissioner (ADC) with the efforts of Haryana CM. Earlier in 2013, we were awarded Rs 25 lakh per acre against our lands by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), but after the case went through arbitration, the farmers were awarded Rs 17.5 lakh per acre more by the ADC court, amounting to a total of Rs 42.5 lakh per acre. We have already received Rs 25 lakh in 2013, but the NHAI has not released the additional awarded amount of Rs 17.5 lakh per acre. An interest of nearly nine per cent is also adding up on this Rs 17.5 lakh. We fear that similar to the way the government had scrapped the Dadupur-Nalvi Canal Project, it could also do the same in this case to avoid releasing higher payments to farmers once the amount strengthens with the addition of interest value on it.”
There were four more demands in the memorandum of farmers, including withdrawal of false cases registered during the farmer’s agitation in Radaur on February 22, 2018; withdrawal of cases registered between 2015-16, when the farmers of village Sudhal stood against the electricity meters; under the Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana immediate release of insured paddy crop loss which happened due to rain and hailstorm in 2018; and to withdraw the complex conditions on issuance of new tubewell connections as most of the farmers fails to meet those conditions.
DC Amna Tasneem said, “The farmers’ leader Harpal had asked for time to meet CM to hand over a memorandum of demands and the message was conveyed to SP and BJP’s district president. As per my knowledge, due to ill health, the CM did not stay at the Bilaspur rally for the time period he was scheduled to stay and he had left the rally earlier.”
SP Kuldeep Singh said, “As per my knowledge the farmers had started sloganeering and marching towards the rally spot. Therefore, on-duty staff had to detain them due to security concerns. Moreover, the farmers were not scheduled to meet the CM and it was totally on the onus of his staff or CM to meet the farmers. It was not a government function, but it was BJP's rally and we had conveyed the message to BJP’s district president.”
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