Farmers vow to fight land acquisition bid

INDORE: Thousands of farmers and their family members on Friday vowed that they would fight against any move by the district administration to acquire their fertile land in Kali Billod village, some 30 km from Indore. Farmers from Ranmal Billod, Ambapura and Salampur area also supported them by raising slogans against the government.
The farmers in presence of social activist Medha Patkar resolved that they were ready for fight to finish against attempts to acquire 2,000 hectare land for Pithampur-Betma industrial cluster.
Addressing farmers on agitation site, Medha said it is a planned conspiracy to grab farmers’ land. “Nothing can be gained without fighting, roll up your sleeves and get ready to take to streets,” the social activist said, adding if people in Assam could stand against big dams on Bramhaputra river and Himalaya valley so could people of Satpura for a cause. She flayed the state government saying its intentions were not fair and Sardar Sarovar dam oustees were still awaiting justice.
She said the government is acquiring land on the basis of primitive laws. Driving home her point, she said that DMIC was not only detrimental to farmers, but also dangerous for retailers.
In a bid to make it clear where she stands on the issue, she said, “We are here for protection of farmers’ rights and save their land. The State Government should have taken the farmers into confidence and taken the issue through the gram sabhas.”
Mathuresh Bhai, who has been fighting against the land acquisition in Noida, said farmers won a battle against the UP Government. Hundreds of farmers and thousands of their family members from Kali Billod, Ranmal Billod, Ambapura and Salampur area were present at the site of agitation and raised slogans against the government. They warned the government that if the government failed to listen their voice, they would be forced to go for an indefinite agitation. The agitating farmers made it clear that their movement was apolitical. Prominent amongst those present included former MP Kalyan Jain, social activists Rambabu Agrawal and Tapan Bhattacharya, Farmers Sangharsh Samiti president, Babusingh Patel, Ejaz Sheikh, Purushottam Mantri, Sarpanch Lakhan Patel and Anar Singh and Bhuru Bhai.