Bijnor: A 42-year-old Dalit farmer, who had set himself ablaze inside a police station in Bijnor last week, succumbed to his burn injuries at Delhi’s Safdarganj hospital. The body of Dharamveer Singh was brought to Bijnor on Friday afternoon amid protests by Dalit organisations and his family members, who blamed “police inaction” for his death.A piece of land, owned by Singh, was allegedly grabbed by a strongman of his village in Mandawar area last year. Since then, Singh made several rounds to police station, but to no avail.On Saturday, the farmer set himself on fire in Mandwar Police Station. He was rushed to Delhi with 55 per cent burn injuries and died on Thursday.As the news of Singh’s death spread, several Dalit leaders and his family members held a protest at district magistrate (DM) office demanding a government job for the son of the deceased along with a compensation of Rs 50 lakh.“Police and survey department are responsible for the death of Dharamveer Singh. His land was grabbed by a local strongman last year. Since then, he had been frequenting police station, but will little success. If police had taken adequate action against the accused, this incident would not have occurred. His family is now living from hand to mouth,” said Jitendra Sagar, BSP’s district coordinator.Later, district magistrate (DM) Jagat Raj assured the protestors that he would raise the issue before higher authorities, and their demands will be considered.When contacted, circle officer (CO) Asit Srivastava had said, “Ganga has been changing its course every year. Due to this, it is very hard to trace the original holdings of all farmers. To justify ownership of the farmers, a survey is being currently conducted. Police have initiated an inquiry into the matter.”Surprisingly, the revenue department has not conducted any survey along the course of the river in Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Amroha and Haridwar since 1937, citing lack of staff and decades old documents written in Persian.Lack of clearly demarcated boundaries has also given rise to land sharks in the region. Land mafias are ruling the roost in Bijnor's 72 villages. Taking advantage of the unclear boundaries, striongmen grab lands from small farmers.

Stay updated with all the Meerut Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.