Unnao farmers dare minister to reveal details of bank accounts to which compensation was paid 

The state government is lying, says Ramesh Shukla. Farmers are not concerned, he says, with what the government does after acquiring the land. But he is yet to receive the compensation, he says, and challenges the government to make the record public. “Show us the transaction. Show us in which account they have deposited the money,” he exclaims. The state government also claims that an ex-gratia of rupees seven lakh each was paid to each farmer. Shukla and other farmers deny receiving this amount either.

Industries Development Minister Satish Mahana called a press conference to claim that the state government had paid Rs 237 crore to the farmers by way of compensation. “The project was a non-starter during Akhilesh Yadav’s regime but when BJP government initiated the execution of the project, local people were instigated to ask for more compensation and stage protests,” he claimed.

On Saturday, November 16, farmers turned violent when officials of UPSIDC reached with heavy machinery like JCBs to start construction work. The young and old of the Ganga Ghat region fought a pitched battle with the police and set several government vehicles and land moving machines on fire.

The protests continued on Sunday, November 17 too and this time the police retaliated in kind, caning whoever they could catch hold of. The video clip of a farmers being brutally beaten by a group of policemen went viral on social media and caused outrage.

But what followed at night was much worse. Uttar Pradesh Police and the armed PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary) swooped down on the villages, broke down doors and beat up women while demanding the whereabouts of the village youth who had staged the protest during the day.

The villagers pleaded ignorance but the policemen hit them, kicked them, vandalised homes and arrested 22 people. They left the village in the morning but only after issuing a threat that villagers should not interfere in the working of the government.

“The protest was politically motivated,” claimed minister Mahana. “Among those arrested is a solitary farmer while the rest have nothing to do with farming. This shows that they were instigated to stage the protest,” he claimed.

As much as 1,156 acres of land in Ganga Ghat were acquired for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in 2014 when Akhilesh Yadav was Chief Minister. The then government set aside the land for a Trans-Ganga City project to be developed by UPSIDC.

The project was to include an exhibition centre, a mega mall, a multiplex and multi-storied residential complexes. Initially the government had proposed a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh per bigha. But after farmers staged protests, the compensation was raised to Rs 5.5 lakh per bigha.

Local officials claim that al the farmers were paid compensation while the farmers maintain that only a handful of them have got full compensation. They also complain that while the government has paid compensation at the rate of Rs 1.5 lakh per bigha, it had agreed to pay Rs 5.5 lakh per bigha.

A senior official of UPSIDC says that the corporation had marked the area as residential plot and 1784 people had initially applied but due to delay in execution, 780 of them sought a refund.

“To improve the profile of the project, the government had proposed construction of a bridge over river Ganga connecting Sarsiyya Ghat with Kanpur. This made the project more attractive and its market value increased,” the official added, claiming that this is why the farmers are demanding higher compensation.