Villagers begin relay fast against varsity centre

Jhajjar, January 10

Residents of Raiya village in the district started a relay fast on Thursday against the setting up of a regional centre of Maharana Pratap University of Horticulture Science in the village. The residents have been sitting on an indefinite dharna for the past 10 days. Seven protesters observed fast on the first day.

Jitender Dhankar, one of the protesters, said that Pradeep Dhankar, Jai Bhagwan, Suresh, Mahabir Singh, Chander Singh and Om Prakash observed fast on Thursday. The agitation had persistently been getting support from farmer organisations and elected representatives of various gram panchayats, he claimed.

“We are demanding cancellation of the project as 105 acres that is being used for the project belong to our ancestors who gave the land to the Raiya gram panchayat for ‘gaucharan’, but the district authorities have illegally taken it on lease for the project,” said Dhankar, adding that the agitation would continue till the project was not cancelled.—TNS