RAIPUR: A 68-year-old man taking part in a protest by peasants affected by the land acquisition for the new capital city of Chhattisgarh died near the agitation site on Friday, officials said.
The exact cause of the death of farmer Siyaram Patel was, however, yet to be ascertained, they added.
Farmers from 27 villages, which fall in Nava Raipur Atal Nagar in Raipur district, have been agitating under the banner of Nayi Rajdhani Priyojna Prabhavit Kisan Kalyan Samiti (NRPPKKS) since January in support of various demands, including better rehabilitation and compensation.
The farmers, who have been agitating in front of the office of Nava Raipur Atal Nagar Vikas Pradhikaran (NRANVP), had, during the day, taken out a foot march to submit applications pertaining to their demands, a government official said.
"As per prior discussion with farmers, they were stopped at a pre-decided place where barricading was done by police and their applications were being accepted village-wise by setting up counters. Patel, from Barauda village, fainted and fell on the ground near the counter and was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital," Raipur superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told PTI.
Patel's son Hiralal was immediately informed and the body was sent to Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial Hospital Raipur for post mortem, he added.
"His son has said Patel was on medication for high blood pressure. However, we will know the exact cause after we get the post mortem report," he said.
Patel was actively taking part in the protests since January and we demand that the state government give his kin adequate compensation, said NRPPKKS spokesperson Girdhar Patel.
Meanwhile, a state government official said a cabinet sub committee had last month accepted six out of eight demands of the protesters.
These include allotment of land title for residential land lease deed for an area between 1200 to 2500 square feet as per eligibility, recruitment of 60 per cent employees from the affected villages, allotment of 75 percent of the commercial shops in various sectors of Nava Raipur to project-affected families etc.
However, Girdhar said the government had not accepted all the demands and it has also put various conditions.