Three persons, including two policemen, were killed when a farmers’ agitation against land acquisition turned violent on Saturday afternoon at village Bhatta in Greater Noida, nearly 100 km from the national capital.
The villagers, who on Friday morning had taken two government officials and a bus driver hostage, allegedly opened fire at the policemen when they reached the site Saturday morning to rescue them. Two policemen were killed instantly, official sources said. The police claimed that the farmer killed in the clash was caught in the crossfire. A country-made pistol was recovered from slain farmer. The farmers have been agitating since January 17 for better compensation for land acquired by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Several security officials were injured in the clash, including Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Deepak Aggarwal, who was shot in the leg. Senior superintendent of police Suryanath Singh was critically injured when the villagers threw stones at the approaching police personnel. While the police claimed it had rescued all three hostages, Mr A.K. Bharadwaj, the brother of one of the hostages, told this newspaper: “My brother and two others were released by the villagers after nearly after 36 hours in their custody.” So far nearly 20 people have been arrested. The village has been cordoned off by a large contingent of the Provisional Armed Constabulary (PAC).
At around 9.30 am on Friday, two UP road surveyors, D.K. Bharadwaj and Niranjan, travelling in a state transport bus, reached the village to survey the area for road construction. The villagers, who were sitting on a dharna, immediately overpowered them and took them captive. On Saturday morning, the DM, Mr Aggarwal, with a small force, moved towards the village to negotiate the release of the hostages. However, as they approached the villagers allegedly opened fire. While the DM was shot in the leg two PAC constables, Manveer Singh and Manohar Singh, were killed. The villagers then charged the small contingent, dragged a policeman away and started beating him up. The contingent was outnumbered and retreated. However, a huge PAC contingent was then rushed to the site. As this contingent approached, the villagers allegedly continued to fire on them. The administration claimed that while villagers opened fire on the security forces with country-made pistols (kattas), the policemen fired in the air to disperse the mob.
The rampaging villagers had earlier also attacked mediamen and damaged an OB van of a private news channel. They also damaged several vehicles of mediamen. The police claimed that the protesters were led by Manveer Singh Tewatia, a local property dealer who was reportedly absconding when reports last came in.
With a year to go for the UP Assembly elections, the Opposition parties in UP, including the Congress, BJP and SP, blamed the Mayawati government for the “poor plight of the local farmers”.