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U.P. walk-out over firing

LUCKNOW: The entire Opposition staged a walkout in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday following the Bahujan Samaj Party government’s refusal to accept their demands relating to the Greater Noida police firing.

The government remained non-committal on the demand to raise the quantum of compensation announced for the next of the kin of the deceased and constitute an all-party fact-finding team. Judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge was also demanded. A judicial probe by a retired High Court judge was announced by Chief Minister Mayawati last week.

Initiating the debate immediately after Supplementary Grants of Rs.5,916.17 crore was tabled by Parliamentary Affairs and Finance Minister Lalji Verma, the Leader of the Opposition Mulayam Singh condemned the alleged atrocities by the police and the firing on innocent and unarmed farmers that claimed five lives and left 52 injured.

Mr. Singh said the farmers were going to stage a peaceful dharna at the office of the Greater Noida Development Authority when they were subjected to unprovoked lathi charge and firing.

Mr. Singh said the compensation for the acquisition of land was related to eight villages. When compensation at the rate of Rs.850 per square metre was given to the farmers of two villages why it was not extended to farmers of the remaining six villages whose land had been acquired, he asked.

Mr. Singh demanded an ex gratia of Rs.10 lakh for the families of the deceased farmers and Rs.2 lakh for the injured. He also demanded action against the guilty policemen and said they should be sent to jail. Mr. Singh warned the Government not to resort to undemocratic methods to scuttle the voices of protest against its anti-farmer and anti-people policies.

Hukum Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party said land was being acquired in Noida and Greater Noida for residential and commercial complexes and not a single industry had been established in the region. The Leader of the BJP Legislature Party, Om Prakash Singh, expressed apprehension that acquisition of large chunks of farm land for building Expressway projects would lead to a food crisis.

Pramod Tiwari (Congress) dubbed the firing as cold-blooded murder by the police and accused the government of conducting itself as a bunch of criminals. Mr. Tiwari alleged that the illegal trade in land was at the root of the Ghodhi Bachherha incident. The government should furnish details on how many industries had been established in the State and how many had shifted base to Uttarakhand and Haryana.

In his reply, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister dismissed the Opposition charges and said the government was following democratic principles. Mr. Verma said police vehicles were torched by the protesters. Had force not been used by the police the Greater Noida office would have been burnt by the farmers, he added. The judicial probe would be conducted by a retired High Court judge, D.K. Trivedi.

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