Farmers seek compensation for ERCP land acquisition

Jaipur: Farmers of 37 villages of Tonk and Dausa districts have been protesting outside the sub-tehsildar's office at Banetha sub-tehsil (Uniara) since Tuesday demanding proper compensation for the Isarda dam submergence area under the ERCP project. Another group of farmers have been protesting outside the Dausa district collector’s office for the past three days.The farmers have been demanding compensation as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. “Due to the local administration not listening to the demands of the farmers, they spent the night in the bitter cold outside the sub-tehsildar’s office,” said Ram Pal Jat, president, Kisan Mahasabha.“Even after completion of more than 75 per cent work of the Isarda dam under the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), the rehabilitation and resettlement of 37 villages that were submerged by the dam have not been done yet. The farmers have not been adequately compensated for their immovable properties,” he said. He said the compensation was not determined by the district collector as per law and physical verification was not done for its assessment. "The farmers have been demanding adequate compensation for the past 7 years. This is still the situation despite having submitted hundreds of representations to the government,” said Jat.“There is a fear of ruining the original form of the ERCP as per the DPR prepared in the year 2017. Because of this, the amount of water to be received by Rajasthan will be reduced by half, and water will not be available for irrigation. Due to this, 13 districts of the state will not get 2369 million cubic meters of drinking water. The amount of water will be reduced to 1,775 million cubic meters,” said Jat.