Haryana, UP farmers clash
From K.G.Dutt
Tribune News Service

KAIRANA (Muzaffarnagar), Dec 10 — Tension between the farmers of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana on the common border of the two states is mounting on the eve of the wheat sowing season.

Official sources told TNS here today that a section of Haryana farmers allegedly attacked the counterparts in Sahpat village of Kairana subdivision when the latter had gone to the fields along the Yamuna river to sow their crop.

Official sources also admitted that Mr Harish Badhoria, in charge of the police station, Kairana, along with other senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh police, was camping in the village to defuse tension. About a dozen farmers of Sahpat village were injured in the clash between the farmers of the two states.

The Haryana farmers allegedly also burnt four jhuggis of Uttar Pradesh farmers, destroying their personal belongings and agricultural equipment.

Reports received from there indicate that the Haryana farmers were allegedly attacked by their Uttar Pradesh counterparts while sowing wheat along the banks of the Yamuna.

It is further learnt that the farmers of Khurampur had already lodged a complaint with the Sonepat police that they apprehended an attack from the farmers of Nagla Behlolpur in Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh farmers also reportedly fired in the air to ‘scare away’ their Haryana counterparts.

Clashes between the farmers of the two states along the banks of the Yamuna in Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, and Faridabad districts is common.

The Yamuna passes through the districts of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. The river usually changes its coarse during the rainy season every year. As a result, lands of farmers of the two states are submerged and later there is a tussle between the farmers of both states over the remaining land.

The Dixit Committee Award had clearly laid down guidelines to meet the claims of the farmers of the two states. However, this report has not been strictly implemented so far.

Even about two years ago, a dispute was referred to the Survey of India, but the situation remains unchanged so far.

Enquiries show that when such disputes occur, the administrations of the two states become active for a while. The Bhartiya Kisan Union leader, Mr Mohinder Singh Tikait, has demanded a permanent solution of the problem.