Farmers clash with police over land takeover

IANS/Lucknow

Farmers block railway tracks during a protest in Karchana town in Uttar Pradesh yesterday. Hundreds of stone-hurling farmers protested against the takeover of their land for two proposed power plants, police said

Farmers clashed with police in Karchana town of Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad district yesterday as they protested the "inadequate compensation” for their agricultural land acquired for setting up a thermal power station.
Rail traffic on the Delhi-Kolkata trunk line was disrupted as the protesting farmers staged a sit-in on the tracks, despite the railway police using force to disperse them.
While protesters alleged a farmer was killed in the firing by the railway police, director general of police, Karamveer Singh, denied the claim. "There was no firing by the police. The death of one man following a heart attack was being wrongly attributed to police firing, which never happened,” he told media persons here.
While demonstrators were still blocking the railway tracks, Singh said the situation was now well under control.
Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation chairman Navneet Sehgal maintained that the bulk of the farmers whose lands were acquired for the 1,320mw power plant had already received their compensation and settled issues with the administration.
"Of the 512 hectares land targeted for the plant, 496 hectares have been formally acquired and handed over by the farmers. The trouble was, however, caused by the remaining, who were trying to misguide others too,” he said.
Jaypee Infratech, which has undertaken the task to set up the power station, is stated to have offered to shift their site to another place if the farmers continued to agitate.
The clash highlights the growing challenges the country faces in building infrastructure.
Similar protests have stalled road, power, mining and industrial projects across India that are needed to sustain the economy’s near-9% expansion. They also highlight the debate between farm interests and industrialisation.