Hundreds of farmers gathered at DND flyway called off their protest on Saturday after the Uttar Pradesh government promised to look into their demands of compensation as per the latest law for their acquired land.
The protest that started on Friday caused huge inconvenience to commuters during evening peak hours after the agitated farmers blocked the flyway with their tractors.
Following the government's intervention on Saturday, the protest was suspended for a week, said farmer leader Manveer Singh Tevatiya.
"Our demands about proper compensation have been pending for eight years. If the government does not resolve them in a week, we will resume our protest," he told IANS.
The decision to call off the protest did not go down well with many farmers as they raised concerns over the lack of concrete assurances from the government.
Tevatiya said the government had given the farmers from Mathura, Agra, and Dadri, Mandola, Kachera in the NCR a "paltry amount" when their land was acquired during 2010-2011.
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"We were deceived by the government. We want compensation under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013," he said.
Some farmers from Bihar also had joined the protest for their demand of fair compensation from GAIL India.
On Friday, these farmers travelling in tractors had tried to enter the National Capital via the DND flyway. They were stopped by police at toll plaza, leading to traffic jam for hours.
Police had a tough time clearing the tractors on DND flyway that had affected traffic on National Highway 24, Kalindi Kunj, Sarita Vihar and Mathura Road. These farmers stayed overnight near the toll plaza.
On Saturday, the District Magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar met the protesting farmers and assured them of a meeting with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a week's time, Tevatiya said.
Amit Tyagi, a farmer from Mandola, said about 2,640 acres of land was acquired from his village in 2010 but the compensation given by the government was "too low".
"We did not realise that we were fooled. Now, we want compensation under the 2013 law that promises 20 per cent of (developed) land in compensation besides money," he said.
Another farmer leader Neeraj Tyagi said the BJP leaders had expressed their solidarity with the farmers' demands before they formed government in the state in 2017.
--IANS
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