This land not for commercial sale

LUCKNOW: There’s a deeper insight to farmers’ unrest in Uttar Pradesh for last several years. A cursory view suggests that farmers are agitating for higher compensation for their land acquired by the government for ‘development’ work. However, a closer look shows that farmers are up in arms because they feel cheated – be it the case of Yamuna Expressway and associated projects, Dadri power project or Sonbhadra cement factory.
“Farmers never oppose acquisition for development works like laying of railway tracks, hospitals, schools, roads and canals, but they get angry when they see the government behaving like a property dealer by acquiring their land at throw away prices and handing it over to private companies which reap huge profits,” Sudhir Panwar, president of Kisan Jagriti Manch, said.
“The general feeling among the farmers is that if their land is being used for a commercial purpose, they should also get a share in the profit,” he said. “That’s the reason why we see no protest in Rae Bareli, where land has been acquired at a low rate for construction of a rail coach factory. Farmers feel that a factory in the area will provide jobs to the future generation and help in economic development of the locality,” he added.
Panwar’s observation gains credence from the fact that there were no protests till the time Yamuna Expressway was being constructed. However, when farmers learnt in 2010 that a large part of their land was being used to build VIP townships and commercial ventures, they came out on streets. Since then, several agitations have taken place in the region.
“The government gave us Rs 800 per sq mt for the land acquired, but the same land it sold to a private construction company for Rs 3,200 per sq mt. And now, we have come to know that the private company after developing the area is selling the land at Rs 10-30,000 sq mt in Noida and Greater Noida,” said Mahendra Singh, a school teacher in Bhatta-Parsaul village, where four persons died in police-farmer clashes on May 7 during protests for higher compensation for their acquired land. He also pointed out that the agitation at Tappal in Aligarh in August 2010, in which five persons had died, was also against the VIP township and not against construction of road.
Governments change but their actions don’t: In 2004, the Mulayam government acquired about 2,500 acres land for 8,000 mega watt gas-based power project with an investment of Rs 40,000 crore to be set up by Reliance Anil Ambani group.
However, farmers revolted because the land acquired was more than required for setting up of power plant. And, instead of barren land available in abundance, rich fertile land suitable for multiple crops was acquired for the project. The compensation given was Rs 135 per sq mt, whereas the market rate of land was Rs 15000 per sq mt. In 2009, the High Court cancelled the acquisition.
In January this year, Supreme Court quashed notification issued by Mulayam government to acquire land under emergency clause without hearing the land-owners for constructing jails in Shahjahanpur, Azamgarh, Jaunpur and Moradabad. The court observed that the acquisition by the state that benefits a particular group of people at the cost of the interest of a large section of people defeats the concept of public purpose.
“It’s not the question of farmers alone,” said Vijay Vinit, an activist in Sonbhadra.
“Acquisitions also leave landless labourers jobless. Also, the entire poor population living in the area is rendered homeless,” he said while pointing out how scores of dalit families lost their homes after government gave more than required land to a private company in the district for running two cement factories.