Farmers unhappy with new land acquisition rates

new delhi: the announcement of new land acquisition rates brings farmers a step closer to long-awaited compensations. bawana landowner, ram niwas sehrawat, who has been sitting on a protest dharna outside his village along with dozens of farmers for the past 40 days, says: "we were protesting to get a compensation of rs 23 lakh per acre for our fertile land.we will end the dharna in two days but there are a number of issues that remain unaddressed." sehrawat says the farmers should be given either a flat or a plot on the land which has been acquired. he says: "we are demanding this as farmers often blow-off the money they get as compensation. also, these farmers have been agriculturists for as long as they can remember and cannot take up other professions for a livelihood." a retired sub-inspector of the delhi police said: "we want the government to change its policy on acquisition. our land was acquired in 1997 for which we will get paid now. the government merely announces in newspapers that it is acquiring a particular piece of land and does not inform individual owners about the acquisition. even if the land has a ripe crop or vegetables on it, we are not allowed to harvest it. local officials come and level the field along with the crop, the trees and the vegetables." sujinder singh of khera khurd village, who also sat on the dharna, said: "the government acquired all the eight acres which our family owned. now that we do not have anything to fall back on, we are scouting for land in bareilly or sonepat." but not every farmer is as wise. bawana mla surender kumar says: "i wish the government would teach money management to the farmers. otherwise, they will blow up the hefty compensation in buying white elephants and acquiring cars. i have seen farmers enter into a rat race because of this windfall. also, the government can train them so that they invest their money in another profession or business." bhagat singh of ghazipur village said: "this compensation amount is adequate. earlier the farmers were being short-changed. sheila's stand on acquisition is right and jagmohan should not have interfered." but not all farmers think this way. many bawana farmers feel that the congress has merely implemented a position held by leaders like former deputy prime minister devi lal and delhi mp sahib singh.