The Hindu : New Delhi News : Farmers' plea falls on deaf ears

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Farmers' plea falls on deaf ears

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 17. Despite having petitioned the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and brought to her notice the irregularities taking place in their area, the farmers and residents of Burari in North Delhi are now having a taste of red tapism and "babudom''. Their continued complaints against the Civil Lines SDM, S.L. Batra, and plea for his removal have fallen on deaf ears.

For his part, the Bhalaswa-Jehangirpuri MLA, Jile Singh Chauhan, has backed the residents and farmers of the area and has also sought the removal of Mr. Batra from his present posting, alleging that the officer was not addressing the interests of the common man and had developed vested interest. However, his recommendation has also failed to move the bureaucracy, which is still examining the complaint for the past more than two years. The farmers and residents once again met the Chief Minister early this month and sought the removal of Mr. Batra. Their plea has been that massive encroachments of roads and public land are taking place blatantly under the patronage of the SDM and nothing is being done. They also informed Ms. Dikshit that sand worth lakhs was being illegally extracted from the Yamuna bed by mafia from Uttar Pradesh, but the SDM and other officials were doing nothing to prevent this smuggling.

In their collective complaint and memorandum, these farmers have alleged that for the past one year nothing had been done to redeem the situation and as a result they were now facing the wrath of the SDM for having made representations to the Chief Minister against him. In their petition, the farmers have alleged that they had brought up the issue of illegal encroachments on government land and roads at a meeting of the Bhagidari Scheme on June 21, 2003. On their complaint, the then Deputy Commissioner (North), Manisha Saxsena, through letter No. F/PS/DC (N)/22003, had asked the SDMs to remove all encroachments and look into the complaints of the farmers. She had also asked them to submit a report to her office every 15 days on the action taken. Despite this, the farmers alleged that no action has been taken against those who have taken over public land and roads illegally in rural Delhi.

The farmers have alleged that none of farmers or owners were being issued No Objection Certificates (NOC) for the extended Lal Dora area by the concerned SDM out of vengeance. Levelling allegations of wrong doing, the farmers alleged that an influential political person from Uttar Pradesh was extracting nearly 4,000 trucks of sand from the Yamuna river bed in Salempur Moja and Badarpur Moja in an illegal manner under the patronage of the area officials causing a loss of lakhs to the exchequer. They said that on site inspections were carried out by the concerned patwari and kanangoo who submitted their findings to the SDM backing the facts brought out by the farmers and villagers. However, nothing has been done to punish the guilty who have already extracted 4,000 trucks of sand. The farmers had also met the Development Minister, Raj Kumar Chauhan, who had promised to look into the matter. "Yes the farmers have met me with their problems. I have asked Mr. Chauhan to submit all this in writing and then I will forward the same to the Chief Minister for further action,'' Mr. Chauhan remarked.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi