Farmers want service road before opening of Yamuna Expressway

GREATER NOIDA: Farmers residing on both sides of Yamuna Expressway today wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav demanding that the Yamuna Expressway should not be opened till their service road parallel to it is developed for connectivity of villages along the Expressway.

"Our main demand is that the service road along Yamuna Expressway should be constructed from Greater Noida till Agra. Till the service road is completed, the Expressway should not be allowed to opened," Virendra Dhada, Convenor, Rashtriya Kisan Union,told reporters today.

"At present, the service road is constructed only till Formula 1 site and one or two patches beyond that.

"We will not allow opening of Expressway," said Dhada. "Further, we have demanded that local farmers should get toll-free movement on Yamuna Expressway," he said.

"Moreover, we have demanded that Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority(YEIDA) should give hiked the compensation of 64.7 per cent to all Yamuna Expressway farmers too as was being done for Greater Noida farmers by GNIDA (Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority)," he said.

"We have also demanded that instead of 7 per cent developed, land farmers should be given the 10 per cent developed land on GNIDA pattern as was being done on Allahabad High Court order"" he said.

Dhada said farmers have demanded 50 per cent reservation in industrial jobs and admission to colleges set up here.

"Our other demand is that children of farmers on whose land Formula 1 complex is constructed should get job there", he said.