On Monday, Agriculture land dwellers from Bemina, Srinagar staged a protest at Press Colony, Srinagar, against the administration, alleging that the administration was trying to buy their agricultural land (500 Kanal), where they have been dwelling since decades, at an unreasonable price.
A protester said that they were not protesting against the fact that their lands were being taken away for administrative purposes. “Our demand is that if you’re taking our lands, pay us a sufficient amount of money by which we can start farming somewhere else,” he added.
The protester added that the said land was their only source of income. “The amount they’re paying us is very little. If not money, then they should provide us some alternative land in some other area,” he said.
The protesting farmers alleged that the administration had demanded nearly 450-500 Kanal land at Rakh Gund Aksha, for the construction of High Court complex.
“They are ending agricultural land in Kashmir and paying us a sum of ₹1,20,000/Kanal against the market rate of over ₹30,00,000/Kanal for the same amount of Land. The land measures to at least 450 Kanals. Hundreds of people are dependent on their agricultural land,” a protester said.
The protesters said that they were demanding justice, peacefully, like other farmers of India did.
They added that the livelihood of half of the population of the area was dependent on agriculture.
Another protester added that they were not even provided a notice by the administration saying that they wanted to acquire the land.
“Earlier, a lot of land for the construction of Railway tracks was acquired and the owners were provided sufficient amount of money and their children were provided with jobs, too. But this time, they did not even provide us with a notice before taking the land,” he said.
The protesting farmers demanded justice from the higher authorities, so their livelihood isn’t affected.
They demanded that the LG administration and the Prime Minister intervene and resolve their issue.
“It’s an appeal to the Prime Minister of India to do justice with the farmers of Kashmir, just like they did justice to the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and UP,” appealed a protesting farmer.