Farmers attacked again in Dadri: V P Singh

New Delhi, Sep 18 (UNI) Citing the people-police struggle of Dadri as an example of how the more than century-old Land Acquisition Act was being misused to snatch democratic rights, a pressure group led by former Prime Minister V P Singh today demanded its immediate amendment and a halt to the creation of Special Economic Zones in the country.

''Police once again mercilessly beat up farmers, women, children and the aged at Bajehra Khurd yesterday. So much atrocity, all for the sake of real estate, was not inflicted even during British rule when this law was enacted,'' Mr Singh said here.

Claiming villagers were being targeted like this in other parts of the country as well due to the Government's rush to create SEZs -- ''Independent Republics'' with all sorts of incentives for corporates -- he demanded that the Congress-led ''UPA Government end this fraud,'' on the people immediately.

The Left parties were supportive of the stand, the former PM said.

While pointing out that corporates were grabbing ''lakhs of acres of prime agricultural land'' in SEZs encircling cities across many states, the former Prime Minister asked why there was need for the Government to act as a go-between in any deal between a corporate and the land owning farmer.

Socialist Surendra Mohan, besides activists Aruna Roy, Vandana Shiva, Prashant Bhushan and Rajinder Sachhar -- the others present at the press conference -- argued that hidden in the claptrap of economic development were stories of the abuse of people's human rights, of the rape of the environment and of mass corruption.

They denounced the Uttar Pradesh government saying that on the one hand land acquisition for the proposed Reliance power plant at Dadri reeked of ''massive corruption'' while on the other hand people's democratic protest was being put down.

''No competitive tender was floated. There is no gas supply agreement in place as yet for the proposed plant. In fact, it is not yet clear how much power it would actually produce in the end,'' Prashant Bhushan pointed out.

''There is need for a serious debate of this problem. This is a national crisis,'' Aruna Roy said, citing it alongside unresolved development-related issues such as displacement, rehabilitation and resettlement.

Mr Singh, whose Jan Morcha has been spearheading a political campaign against the Mulayam Singh Yadav dispensation in Uttar Pradesh, said he would strive to spread word about the ''injustice'' with the farmers of Dadri vigorously in the rest of the state.

A Jan Sena comprising youths was also being formed to fight the cause, he informed. The Morcha would let every village, especially in western Uttar Pradesh, know of ''Dadri ka Dard'' (the pain of Dadri), he warned.

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