Thaindian News

By Nitin Gautam

Mathura, Aug.15 (ANI): Farmers continued to hold a violent protest in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district on Sunday, demanding higher compensation for land taken away for a highway project.

Violence was reported from Tappal village where four people had been killed in police firing on Saturday.

Over 2,000 farmers undertook a march towards the Tappal police station.

The protesters set two police vehicles on fire near Avakhera village. Four small manufacturing units were also torched.

It all started on Saturday when the farmers held a demonstration against the Mayawati government, seeking more compensation for land acquired for the Yamuna Expressway project.

Farmers in Mathura city of Uttar Pradesh burnt vehicles and other public property on Saturday.

Furious over not being compensated for land taken from them to building an expressway, a large number of famers put on fire various vehicles and damaged other public property.

The news of the clash between farmers and police spread by hearsay and soon farmers from neighbouring villages of Mathura also joined in.

The infuriated mob set afire the police outposts at Bajna and Bhanharhi localities, a post office on Mathura-Aligarh border and the camp office of a construction company.

“They have vandalized everything, manhandled people here and burnt all the vehicles around,” said Ram Prakash, a local resident.

The farmers staged a demonstration demanding more compensation for their farmland acquired by the government for construction of the Yamuna Expressway.

Police sealed the Aligarh-Mathura border and claimed situation has been brought under control.

“We were informed of fire in the area so we alerted our camp. All the farmers ran away as we approached the area. They burnt all the vehicles and public property and the entire crowd ran away towards Bajna. We informed the police and our department about the situation and our force arrived on time here,” said Dharampal, Bajna police post in-charge.

The 165-kilometer Yamuna Expressway project, worth over 90 billion rupees will connect Agra city with the national capital.

The state government had acquired land for the project in 1,192 villages of four Uttar Pradesh districts.

The farmers in Mathura are not satisfied with the compensation as they view it being lower than what has been paid to the farmers in Noida, a suburb of New Delhi. (ANI)