Haryana villagers end expressway protest

The construction work on the KGP and KMP Expressways has resumed as farmers at Badhkhalsa village here ended their protest after assurances from the Sonipat district administration that they’d be duly compensated, authorities said on Sunday.

The villagers had been protesting against the acquisition of their land for construction of road and roundabout of Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal Expressway and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressways since November 17, 2005, an official statement said today.

“As the villagers were not ready to give up their land, the construction work had to be halted. The farmers recently ended their protest,” it said.

The construction of the road was restarted after the BJP government came to power in Haryana in 2014.

“On April 19, 2016, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar held a meeting with the villagers where he offered the villagers land in other locations in lieu of the land to be acquired. He had also instructed the district administration to comply with these orders,” the statement read.

After this, Sonipat deputy commissioner K Makrand Pandurang held talks with the villagers and offered land or enhanced compensation. “While 70 farmers were recently paid compensation, land at other locations would be provided to the remaining 212 farmers, for which the process has already been started,” it said.