Ghaziabad farmers escalate protest, demand land return after authority misses Supreme Court deadline

Farmers in Kanvani village, Ghaziabad, entered the 24th day of their sit-in protest, declaring in a decisive panchayat meeting that they will no longer accept compensation and now demand the return of their land from the development authority at any cost.

The protest continued at village Mohiuddinpur Kanvani, where farmers gathered at the dharna site and unanimously resolved not to hand over their land to the authority under any circumstances. The farmers pointed out that the six-month deadline given by the Supreme Court to the authority to declare a valid award for the village land has expired, yet the authority has failed to announce the award within the stipulated period.

At the panchayat held at the protest site, farmers made it clear that they now want their land back, not compensation. They said the authority had struck off farmers' names from revenue records and entered its own name on those lands, and now those names must be restored and the land returned to the farmers.

Farmer Kailash Nagar said the six-month time limit given by the Supreme Court has ended and the authority could not prepare the award for the village land within the prescribed period. In this situation, farmers have unanimously decided that they will not give their land to the authority at any cost, and the land recorded in the authority's name after removing farmers' names from revenue records must be returned to the farmers.

Farmers gathered at the dharna site and said in unison, "Now we do not want compensation, we want our land back" and "Now we will not give our land at any cost." The farmers said they will continue their peaceful struggle to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court's order and to restore their rights over their land.

Present at the dharna site during this time were a large number of farmers including Sukhbir Singh Nagar, Jaypal Nagar, Kabul Singh Nagar, Chatar Singh Nagar, Lakhiram Sharma, Prithvi Kasana, Bhagwat Singh Nagar, Satish Nagar, Praveen Nagar, and Ashok Kasana.