Farmers against Forcible Land Acquisition in Ghazipur

From the start, farmers have been agitating against forcible land acquisition for the Mau-Tadighat new railway line project being constructed in Ghazipur but the government is adamant about repression of farmers. A dharna had been going on since October 2018 but it ended due to the Lockdown. The government and administration want to forcibly achieve their intentions under the excuse of Lockdown. The administration is consistently threatening farmers. There is anger among farmers against this.

On 15 July the farmers raised their voice and carried forward their strategy by organizing a dharna at the Sukhdev Mandir. The farmers said that from the beginning, they have been demanding compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act 2013, but they are being cheated from the very start. Poor farmers have been deliberately trapped in legal action and court cases. Even after such a long period of time, no verdict has been given in the arbitration. The farmers assert that they are not against development, but the administration is bent on malicious mischief.

Addressing the dharna, All India Kisan Mahasabha National Secretary Ishwari Prasad Kushwaha said that this is a decisive phase in this agitation. We have consistently cited the Land Acquisition Act 2013 but the administration has replied in the language of lathis and sticks and acted with the intent to destroy farmers. He said that even now there is time; the government and the administration should fix compensation as per the law, otherwise farmers are ready to face lathis, bullets, and jail but will not back down. Present at the dharna were many farmers and leaders including distinguished writer and intellectual Ram Avatar, Kisan Mahasabha District Vice President Pramod Kushwaha, Ramashish Singh, Yogendra Bharati and affected farmers Gangasagar Kushwaha, Rajesh Kushwaha, Dinanath, Shambhunath Maurya, kisan leaders Awadhesh Bind, Shiv Kumar Maurya, Sandeep Vishwakarma and Kharpattu Kushwaha.