Farmers set to lose land for the Andal aerotropolis demand better compensation

The Telegraph Farmers step up land demand http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090107/jsp/bengal/story_10353797.jsp

Durgapur, Jan. 6: Villagers set to lose land for the Andal aerotropolis project today formed a farmers’ committee that demanded developed plots in the project site measuring half the area of the land given up by each holder. That would mean a farmer giving up two cottahs would have to be given one cottah in the airport city area with all facilities like roads, electricity and water supply. Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited, which is handling the project, had offered the farmers between Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 11.24 lakh an acre depending on the fertility and location of the plot. The farmers were also to get a cottah inside the project area for every bigha acquired (20 cottahs make a bigha). But there was a ceiling on the land-for-land offer: no farmer would get more than six cottahs. The new demand — of more land in the project area — came after the farmers from 12 mouzas formed the Krishi Jomi Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee, at the helm of which is the Trinamul Congress. The SUCI and Naxalite outfits are believed to be involved as well. “We welcome the project but we want half of our lost land in developed condition in the project area. The project promoter, Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited, has offered us one cottah against every bigha acquired but we don’t accept it,” said Kalobaran Mondal, the committee president and a former Trinamul president of Andal block. Mondal, 54, a transporter, owns around 20 acres of single-crop land in Tamla, identified for acquisition. “We will meet the Burdwan district magistrate tomorrow and place our new demand before him,” said Susanta Dutta, a spokesperson of the outfit. On December 24 last year, the villagers had demanded direct talks with Bengal Aerotropolis and demanded jobs and shares as promised by the Jindals in Salboni. The committee will also place its demand for direct talks with the developers. Singapore’s Changi Airport International is said to have picked up a 26 per cent stake in the project. The final deal has not been signed, though. The farmers are not the only bother for the project’s developers. Coal India objected to the project saying the site would block mining. The state government has written to the civil aviation ministry denying the allegation. The Rs 10,000-crore aerotropolis needs 3,500 acres. Most of the land in the area is either single-crop or barren. 900 reject Andal offer http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090112/jsp/bengal/story_10377637.jsp Burdwan, Jan. 11: Over 900 land holders have refused to part with their plots for the Andal aerotropolis in Burdwan. Sources in the district land acquisition collectorate said objections from 929 villagers from eight mouzas in Andal block have been received in two lots since last Wednesday, though Burdwan district magistrate Manish Jain claimed the papers “hadn’t reached his office”. The government issued a notification for land acquisition on December 11 last year. The notification, for the first phase of the Rs 10,000-crore project, was for the acquisition of 2,364 acres spread over the eight mouzas. In all, 3,500 acres would be required. Most of the land in the area is single-crop or barren. But villagers allege the administration had not spoken to them before putting up the notice. Raju Roy, who filed an objection on his one-acre plot, said he wasn’t against the project but insisted the government should have spoken to him first. “The government has fixed the price of my land after consulting political parties, not me. Why should someone else decide the price of my plot? It is unjustified. I want to talk directly to the project promoter,” said Roy, who is a Trinamul panchayat member in Andal. Ananda Prasad Layek, who owns 3.18 acres in Bhadur mouza, said: “The project is being built by a private company which can speak to us and settle the compensation. Why is the government coming between? I will not sell at less than Rs 18 lakh per acre.” The government has offered Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 11.24 lakh an acre, depending on the plot’s fertility and location. The compensation package, which offered a land-for-land scheme for the first time other than cash, vocational training and other reimbursements to 19,000 villagers, was accepted by all major political parties, except Trinamul, which did not attend any of the 19 all-party meetings. The objections came after a demand by a farmers’ committee last Tuesday for developed plots inside the project area measuring half the area of land given up by each holder. Trinamul, though, seems to have distanced itself from the farmers’ attempts to get higher compensation. State party president Subrata Bakshi said: “We are not part of any agitation where farmers have agreed to give up land but are agitating for higher prices.”

Compensation increased

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081110/jsp/bengal/story_10088950.jsp

Willing farmers pay a price

ABHIJEET CHATTERJEE

Durgapur, Nov. 9: More than 2,700 farmers in Burnpur’s Purushottampur have realised it doesn’t pay to be a willing land loser. They had given up their land for the expansion of the IISCO Steel Plant without a murmur but ended up with less compensation than the 226 unwilling farmers who fought the acquisition for two years. The 2,770 land losers are now claiming the additional money, which is between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh per acre. The government has earmarked 305 acres of non-farmland to be acquired in the mouzas of Hirapur, Nakrasota and Purushottampur. But residents of the first two mouzas were given a better package because of their proximity to the Burnpur-New Town Road. Purushottampur’s 226 villagers, protesting against the “inadequate” compensation, formed a land losers’ committee, like in Singur and Nandigram, and moved court. The court ruled in their favour and directed the government to raise their compensation. The villagers collected their cheques on October 26. The CPM had not lent support to these protesters but is backing the willing farmers’ demand. The party MLA from Hirapur, Amitava Mukherjee, has urged the administration to pay the increased compensation to the 2,770 land losers. “Why should these people be deprived? They had accepted the compensation from the government without any agitation. Have they done anything wrong by co-operating with the administration? Everyone should get the same land price,” he said. The land losers are hoping the administration will not let their “sacrifice” go in vain. “We have sacrificed our land but what are we getting now? Those who protested got more compensation. We want the same,” said Sadhan Roy. Shishir Roy says he wants the matter settled without going to court. “The additional district magistrate has told us to move court but why should we spend money in courts? The administration should take moral responsibility and hand over the excess amount. If not, we will be compelled to move court. That will delay the IISCO expansion work.” Additional district magistrate (land acquisition) Asim Bhattacharya said the local MLA had approached the administration with the farmers’ demand. “We paid increased compensation to 226 land losers following a court directive. If the rest of the villagers also want the increased price, they will have to come with the same court directive,” he said. The IISCO Steel Plant had acquired the 305 acres through the government in 1989 but could not start work because of a funds crunch. The project sprang back to life in 2006 after the Prime Minister announced a Rs 10,000-crore package.

Price up, land cheques taken

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081027/jsp/bengal/story_10025679.jsp

Price up, land cheques taken

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Durgapur, Oct. 26: Landlosers whose plots have been acquired for the IISCO steel plant collected their cheques after two years of agitation that compelled the government to raise the compensation. All 226 residents of Purushottampur mouza in Burdwan collected their cheques from the government today. Work on the IISCO steel plant’s expansion was held up after the residents of Purushottampur protested that the compensation offered to them was lower than that given to landlosers of two other mouzas. In total, 305 acres of non-agriculture land was earmarked for the IISCO plant. Land was to be acquired in the mouzas of Hirapur (45 acres), Nakrasota (16 acres) and Purushottampur (244 acres). Hirapur and Nakrasota landlosers were granted compensation at the rate of Rs 8.5 lakh-Rs 12.5 lakh an acre. But the landlosers in Purushottampur were told they would get between Rs 6.5 lakh and Rs 8.5 lakh as the area was situated away from the Burnpur-New Town Road. The other two were near the road. The villagers formed a landlosers’ committee, like in Singur and Nandigram, and fought the police and steel plant officials when they went to take possession of the land in June 17 last year. In all, 126 protesters were arrested after the clash. The Purushottampur residents demanded a revised package to match the other mouzas as well as a job for a member for each family at the plant. But IISCO had already paid the government Rs 40 crore for the 305 acres in September 2006 and the administration had started distributing compensation cheques to the villagers of Hirapur and Nakrasota the same month. The 226 landlosers of Purushottampur, however, did not collect the cheques. They moved the Burdwan district court, which said in a ruling in August that the people of Purushottampur should get equal compensation. Today, Asim Bhattacharya, additional district magistrate (land acquisition), said: “We are following the court order. Around 215 villagers have accepted the cheques. No one has refused to take the cheques this time.” The government, however, has not promised jobs. Secretary of the Purushottampur Landlosers’ Committee, Lakshman Roy, said the residents had won the battle. “We are happy we will get more compensation for our land, but we will continue our agitation for a permanent job at the plant for each landloser’s family,” said Roy. IISCO had marked out the 305 acres, near its plant in Burnpur, for acquisition through the state government in 1989. But the company did not start the expansion because of a funds crunch. In 2006, the Prime Minister announced a Rs 10,000-crore package with 2009 as the deadline. The project sprang back to life.

Maharashtra villagers ‘vote’ on acquisition for Ambani’s SEZ

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080922/jsp/frontpage/story_9869134.jsp

Battle of ballot for land - Maharashtra villagers ‘vote’ on acquisition for Ambani’s SEZ

SATISH NANDGAONKAR

Pen (Maharashtra), Sept. 21: Six thousand people lined up for the vote but for once, polling booths were not handing out the ballot papers. The voters came with the ballots. In a first-of-its-kind exercise that could set a trend for contentious industrial projects in the country, hundreds queued up in 22 villages in Pen, Maharashtra, from early morning to give their verdict on the Mukesh Ambani-promoted Maha Mumbai Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ). The battle lines had been drawn clearly — in white, pink and peach. As the farmers and their families stepped out of their homes today, pro- and anti-zone activists handed them the ballots. Pro-zone agents distributed a white-coloured form, which mentioned some 10 conditions that needed to be met before a farmer agreed to sell his land. The conditions include details of the SEZ, a price of Rs 1 crore per acre, 15 per cent stake in the developed land, direct jobs in the SEZ or a sustenance allowance of Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 250 daily allowance for landless labourers. Reliance has offered Rs 10 lakh an acre for productive land, 5 lakh for unproductive plots, employment, and 12.5 per cent stake in the developed zone. Anti-zone activists handed out three colour-coded copies of the same form that simply said the farmer concerned would not sell his land. Of the three copies, one (white) was for the administration; the farmer got to keep the peach-coloured one; and the third (pink) was for the anti-zone lobby. Raigad district collector Nipun Vinayak said of 6,151 opinions had been recorded through the day. Vinayak said the exercise — initially dubbed “referendum”— covered 5,925 landed properties and could involve some 30,000 people. “We will collate the data and send a report to the government within a fortnight.” In Mumbai, Reliance Industries head Mukesh Ambani said the exercise was a “good thing”. “We want to have the trust of people,” he said. Anti-zone activists claimed that trends at the end of the day indicated 90 per cent were against giving up land for the project that aimed at acquiring 10,000 hectares and proposed to bring in investments worth one lakh crore rupees. The mood in the paddy-rich area, controlled by the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), appeared to be strongly against the multi-product SEZ. “Never,” said 67-year-old Subhash Mhatre as he came out of the “referendum” centre set up in a school. “I will never sell my land. We are traditional farmers and our land is our only asset for future generations. There is no question of selling my 6.7-acre land,” Mhatre, who lives with his mother, four brothers and their families, added. Ramdas Mhatre also “voted” against giving up his six-acre farm. “The compensation offered is so little that there is no question of selling my land,” the 65-year-old said. As he walked away, he whispered that someone outside the centre had offered him Rs 2 crore. “But assurances are of no help,” he said. But there were many voices willing to support the industrialisation of this paddy-rich zone, though for a much higher price than what Reliance has offered. “Two crore and jobs for my two children or nothing,” said Gajanan Mhatre, 55, clearly tipsy at 10 in the morning. This group of farmers quoted figures ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore for an acre. In Kaleshri, anti-SEZ activists roughed up journalists and prevented them from entering the village after they spotted reporters speaking to D.M. Mhatre, who owns seven acres and openly campaigns for the SEZ. “Paddy can’t give a farmer much income. Even if he gets Rs 10 lakh as compensation, he would earn an annual interest of Rs 80,000 without doing anything,” he said. PWP leader N.D. Patil said he welcomed the referendum. “We sent 24,000 objections to the SEZ, but they (the government) tried to go ahead with the acquisition. So when they felt that opinions should be sought from farmers, we welcomed it,” Patil, in his seventies, said. “There are 17,000 hectares of uncultivable land in the state. But instead of taking SEZs there, they want to take fertile land.”

A cottah for every bigha (20 cottahs)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080829/jsp/frontpage/story_9759404.jsp

Enter, land-for-land scheme

SAMBIT SAHA

Calcutta, Aug. 28: Landlosers will be compensated with land for the first time in Bengal. The offer will be part of a package for building an airport in Andal, Burdwan — the proposal for which was approved by the state cabinet today. The land compensation will be offered by a joint venture, not directly by the government. Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL), which proposes to develop the private airport and a satellite industrial township, plans to offer a cottah for every bigha — 20 cottahs make a bigha — over and above the compensation in cash. The land offered will be in areas adjoining the proposed project zone, which officials said lay 2km from collieries and was not fertile. A source close to the company said the scheme had been designed in such a way that those who give up plots don’t feel cheated if, and when, land prices rise once the project gets under way. In Singur, for instance, land prices have shot up four times since the Tata Motors project was announced. The Telegraph had reported that the state government was considering land for land as a possible rehabilitation and resettlement package to capture the future value of land, as suggested by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in an interview to this paper. Chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb announced the government’s nod for the Rs 10,000-crore project after a cabinet meeting at Writers’ Buildings. Deb said a township surrounding the airport, complete with malls, an IT park, multiplexes, hospitals and educational institutions, would come up in the Burdwan block, about 220km from Calcutta. For the airport project, BAPL — a joint venture that includes Pragati Social Infrastructure Company, the Asansol-Durgapur Development Authority, the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and Hudco — plans to acquire 2,300 acres for the first phase and another 1,200 acres later. The state industrial development corporation will buy most of the land and lease it to BAPL. Sources said the land cost could be anywhere between Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh an acre. For the second phase, some homestead land will be acquired, but BAPL plans to build houses for each of the around 250 families who will lose homes. For those with less than a bigha, an annuity scheme, to run over five years, is being worked out. The company will also give vocational training to one member of each landlosing family. BAPL expects the rehab package to cost around Rs 75-100 crore. Sources said the airport would be ready by the middle of 2011, and would be provided operational knowhow by Singapore’s Changi airport.

Compensation package announced for Katwa, Burdwan

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080828/jsp/bengal/story_9754336.jsp

Consensus minus Trinamul

OUR BUREAU

Aug. 27: The Bengal government’s compensation package for the people set to lose land for a power plant in Burdwan’s Katwa was today unanimously accepted by an all-party meeting not attended by the Trinamul Congress and the SUCI. Representatives of the CPM, CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc, Congress and the BJP today decided to speak to over 4,600 villagers and convince them about the package. “All political parties present at the meeting accepted the package and agreed to convince the farmers who don’t want to part with their land,” said Burdwan district magistrate Manish Jain, who presided over the meeting at the Katwa subdivisional office, 180km from Calcutta. The package offers compensation ranging between Rs 11 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, depending on the plots’ proximity to the main road. Several other benefits were also announced (see box). The 1,320MW thermal power plant requires 1,033 acres. Local Congress MLA Ra- bindranath Chatterjee said: “We are happy with the package. Now our job will be to convince the farmers. We will do it because we all want the plant to be set up in Katwa.” The Congress is the main Opposition party in Katwa. However, the Krishi Jomi Krishak Khetmajur Raksha Committee, which is fighting the acquisition, said the land would not be handed over. “We don’t care what the leaders said at the meeting. We are only concerned about our land. Is the leaders’ land being acquired? No. Then why should they decide our fate,” said Debaprasad Chatterjee of the committee. Nearly 90 farmers in East Midnapore’s Geonkhali today refused to part with their land during the first hearing for land acquisition for a shipyard. Around 500 acres on the banks of the Hooghly are required for this project. Last month, over 300 villagers — out of the 600 whose land is to be acquired — had lodged their formal objections to the acquisition. The farmers who refused to give up land today were from Babupur, one of the four mouzas identified for acquisition. “We heard 89 unwilling farmers today. They have explained why they are not willing to give up their land,” said Srikumar Tarafdar, additional district magistrate of Haldia.

A political motive: Sen

Statesman News Service

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=6&theme=&usrsess=1&id=219361

KOLKATA/SINGUR, Aug. 22: The state commerce and industries, Mr Nirupam Sen today said that the majority of the unwilling farmers in Singur were opposing the small car factory on political grounds, indicating it was not merely a question of losing one's livelihood that has prompted the agitation.
In an interactive with industrialists at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Sen was repeatedly asked why the state government did not sit down with the farmers to thrash out the issue. In his response, Mr Sen said they had tried a number of times to do so through the district administration and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation. “Among those who did not take compensation cheques there are certainly some people who refused to do so on political grounds. They have been convinced to oppose the project . and would fight it out till the end," he said.
According to him, only 2251 people have not taken compensation, for a total of 305.47 acres of land, while 10,852 people have accepted compensation cheques for 691.64 acres of land.
He called on the Opposition to identify marginal farmers and arrange for their alternative livelihood with the state government. But the question of returning land should be resolved within the frame of law and keeping in mind the ethical question, he said.
Later, addressing a CPI-M rally at Singur, Mr Sen said that some left and right extremist outfits and right wing political parties have joined hands to create anarchy and force the Tatas to abandon the project.
He also alleged that Trinamul Congress was trying for a repeat of the Nandigram episode at Singur and declared that their efforts would not succeed.

Singur and Tata Nano

The Telegraph

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080801/jsp/nation/story_9629803.jsp

Hint of Singur compensation hike
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Calcutta, July 31: The Bengal government today spoke of a possible compensation hike for Singur landlosers after Tata Motors hinted yesterday that the continuing violence against its small-car project could be testing its patience.

Company managing director Ravi Kant had said the project would go on “as long as our patience lasts”, adding: “Ultimately, the people of Bengal have to decide whether they want industrialisation.”

State industries minister Nirupam Sen today reaffirmed that the government was ready to discuss everything with the landlosers and the Opposition except returning any part of the land. He said the government would consider raising the compensation if such a demand was made.

“If land is returned to those who have not taken compensation yet, the project has to be scrapped. But we are ready to discuss everything else,” Sen told reporters.

Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, however, ruled out any talks with the government unless it returned the 400 acres she claims were forcibly acquired from farmers.

Asked if she would accept the higher compensation offer, Mamata flared up, saying: “I have already made it clear that the land has to be returned first.”

Sen conceded that the former owners of about 350-odd acres out of the site’s 997 acres were yet to accept compensation, but said these numbers proved that Singur had more supporters than opponents of the Nano project.

The attacks on those working at the factory site have allegedly been carried out by the Trinamul-backed Save farmland Committee. Many believe that the sudden escalation in violence, including a mob attack on an engineer on Tuesday, reflects a build-up to the indefinite dharna Mamata has announced at the factory site.

“We had planned the dharna from August 20 but have deferred it by a day or two since Left trade unions have called an all-India strike on the day,” she said.

Singur has seen Bengal’s first experiment with large-scale land acquisition during its latest drive towards industry. Last year, Amartya Sen had mentioned to The Telegraph that the compensation had not factored in the possible rise in land value after the factory came up.

That set the ball rolling in the state government to review the compensation, and a new rehabilitation bill that is ready for tabling at the Assembly does take into account the “future value of land”.

Mamata argued that 600 acres was enough for a car factory and “the additional 400 acres acquired for building shopping malls and other things” must be returned.


Times of India

Cornered CPM plans sops for Singur land-losers
2 Aug 2008, 0308 hrs IST,TNN

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Cornered_CPM_plans_sops_for_Singur_land-losers/articleshow/3316883.cms

KOLKATA: With the CPM on the backfoot over the impasse in Singur, the state government has started exploring options to appease a section of the land-losers who are left with no other source of income. The government is planning to purchase land in Singur and make some arrangements to provide the landless with a steady source of income.

But the proposal has to come from below, chances of which seem remote when Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has ruled out any talks unless the government returns the 400 acres of land taken from “unwilling farmers”.

“An assured alternative income is what the landless want. We have reports that quite a few in Dobandhi village of Singur have dissociated themselves from the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee (KJRC) after they started working on a daily basis at the upcoming vendors’ park. They are now earning Rs 1,900 to Rs 2,000 a month,” said a senior official of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).

Party mandarins in Alimuddin Street, however, are yet to make up their minds. With most of the panchayats in Singur going with the Trinamool Congress, CPM isn’t sure how far the district activists will be able to mobilise the landless villagers, defying Didi’s whip. CPM, instead, will try to build public opinion for industrialisation that took a beating after the Nandigram carnage.

Senior CPM leader Benoy Konar on Friday ruled out distribution of the vested land in Hooghly to those who have become landless after the acquisition. “The government has already given pattas to the landless. There is an insignificant portion of land left, and that too scattered here and there. Returning those plots to the farmers is thus out of the question,” he said.

Also, Alimuddin Street is in no mood to renew the proposal that CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu had floated to the party after his talks with Mamata, a year ago. “There is no such land in the vicinity,” a state commerce and industries official said.

The state, however, has not given up on such an option altogether. “If the Opposition wants, the government can purchase land and put up stalls for the landless. But we can’t make this alternative for those who can sustain for months without taking the cheques,” an official said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Partha Chatterjee, however, sounded adamant. “We will continue our struggle until the government returns the 400 acres of land it has acquired from the unwilling farmers,” he said.

The Economic Times

Singur situation bad but Nano plans are in place: Tata Motors

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Nano_plans_are_in_place_Tata/articleshow/3307616.cms

MUMBAI: Tata Motors on Wednesday reiterated that it would roll out its wonder car Nano during October-December quarter even though the company said the situation is Singur, where the company manufactures the Rs one lakh car, is bad.

Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant also added that the situation not so bad that the company shift out.
Speaking to reporters while releasing the first quarter results on Wednesday Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant said the company would roll out Nano from the Singur plant in West Bengal during October-December quarter.
Referring to the recent disturbances at the plant, he said, "Some elements are causing problems there. The situation is bad. But we are moving ahead."

When asked for how long the company will bear this kind of opposition, he said, "We will continue as long as our patience lasts." But he indicated the situation is not so bad that the company should shift out.

When asked whether the company has plans to manufacture Nano from its new plant in Uttarachal as well, Ravi Kant said the company will not stop at Singur given that the estimated demand for the car is very high.

Referring to the recent flare up in oil prices, he said Nano is the right product at the right time. He said the company has taken a bold decision to locate the plant at Singur despite an advice to the contrary.

"We could have set up the plant anywhere else. But we decided on West Bengal as we want this part of the country to see development, he said."

Status report on land acquisition in Singur released

Business Line (Hindu)

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/01/03/stories/2007010302481100.htm

`997.11 acres have been acquired till December'

Kolkata , Jan. 2

The West Bengal Government today released a status report on land acquisition in Singur providing details of the land acquired, chronology of land acquisition and payment of compensation to landowners and `bargadars'.

The status report enumerates in detail the important provisions of the Land Acquisition Act 1894, the "meaning of consent", the pre-award and post-award consents to amount of compensation, declaration of award and possession, mutation and conversion of the acquired lands and compensation that has been paid.

According to the report, a total of 997.11 acres of land spread across five `mouzas' in Singur, district Hooghly, has been acquired as on December 31, 2006. The process of land acquisition in Singur began with the publication of notifications under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 from July 20, 2006 onwards and was completed with the Declaration of Awards under Section 11 of the Act on September 23 and 25, 2006. Payment of compensation in accordance with the award began on September 25, 2006 and is still continuing.

The status report mentions that the "Act does not have any provision for the Collector to obtain individual consent of landowners to the acquisition nor is there any prescribed form for consent to acquisition".

It adds that the State Government, "vide Govt Order No. 1703-LA-3M-07/06 Dated 6 June, 2006, made provision for consent award under Section 11 (2) of the Act, and prescribed the form in which such consents are to be submitted".

It also states that "consent under Section 11(2) is a means of involvement of the citizen in determination of award. However, non-submission of consent in writing in terms of Section 11(2) does not prevent the Collector from declaring the award and acquiring the land... ..Not accepting the compensation after declaration of award for any part of land does not mean that the land for that part will not be vested in the Government".

Total compensation

The total compensation payable is Rs 119 crore. Of this, Rs 83 crore has been disbursed till December 31, 2006. Cheques have been issued to 9,839 persons in respect of 658 acres of land. A further amount of Rs 36 crore remains to be made to approximately 2,400 people.

The only action remaining is the payment of compensation to the awardees or their legal heirs, which is currently in progress, according to the status report.

Singur: CPI(M)'s peasant wing seeks better deal for farmers

http://www.aol.in/news/story/2007032812189019004425/Main/index.html

AOL India Editorial

Last Updated: August 22, 2007 14:55:21

Singur/Nandigram (WB), Feb 17 (PTI): With the CPI(M) struggling to convince farmers in West Bengal to accept acquisition of agricultural land for industrialisation, the party’s peasant wing has suggested offering a better compensation package to share-croppers.

The registered share-croppers should be given a better compensation including crop compensation for a year besides what they have been paid, Dibakar Das, a Krishak Sabha leader from Singur told PTI.

He also said the compensation rate should be fixed by the state Agriculture Department.

The State government has already acquired a total of 997 acres at Singur for the Tata Motors' small car project evoking violent protests from farmers, mainly share-croppers and landless labourers.

The share-croppers, affected by the land acquisition at Singur, have been given 25 per cent of the market value of the land, besides 10 per cent solatium and 12.5 per cent interest, by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, however, has a bigger problem at hand at Nandigram in East Midnapur district, where rumours about land acquisition led to violent clashes. This forced the Chief Minister to announce that no land would be acquired without the consent of farmers.

Ilyas Muhammad, CPI MLA from Nandigram, a partner in the ruling Left Front, said that 90 per cent of the people were against land acquisition there.

"Technology-oriented industry will provide no employment to farmers at Nandigram. It will in fact compound the situation and lead to more unemployment," Muhammad, whose party has criticised the Bhattacharjee government's land acquisition, said.

The people, including share-croppers were of the view that any industry set up there should be agro-based and not technology-oriented, Muhammed said.

The state government has already committed to the Salim group of Indonesia 22,000 acres in East Midnapur district for setting up a multi-product SEZ and a chemical hub.

The state government, however, was moving cautiously after six people were killed in Nandigram in the first week of January in violent clashes, following an advertisement identifying the areas where the SEZ and chemical hub might be set up.

In a damage control exercise, the Chief Minister has undertaken trips to the affected district explaining to the people that industry was necessary for development. At the same time, CPI(M), the bigger partner in the Front, is also holding talks with smaller partners like CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP, to make them toe the line on the ticklish issue. PTI

Singur impasse: Govt to compensate unrecorded tenants

http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/currentaffairs/westbengalgovernmenttatamotors/singurimpassegovttocompensateunrecordedtenants/market/stocks/article/254803

The West Bengal government has taken a giant stride towards resolving the farmland acquisition controversy surrounding Tata Motors' proposed factory near Kolkata, reports CNBC-TV18.

The Chief Minister having set a stiff deadline, the administration was racing against time right from the morning. More than a thousand people were deployed to finish fencing the Tata Motors plot, but the work couldn't be completed on Tuesday.

Most farmers have resigned to fate, and a hunger strike is all that they could do to mark their protest. But the West Bengal government has, in the meanwhile, taken a giant stride toward resolving the imbroglio. It has decided to acknowledge the right to livelihood of even unrecorded tenants of Singur farmland and compensate them.

Unrecorded tenants were the key problem in Singur. The promise to compensate them should cut ice with farmers and take the sting out of the Trinamool Congress-led opposition to acquisition of farmland. Registration has begun, and 64 landless peasants have already applied for compensation. Plus, the Bengal Chief Minister having opened the doors yet again for discussion on compensation and rehabilitation, end of the Singur impasse appears to be in sight.

SINGUR TATA FACTORY FALLOUT

http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/jul/agr-singur.htm

By Aparna Pallavi

"I need my land, not money."
Deprived of their lands, unable to find any kind of work, the female sharecroppers of Singur are today looking at bleak days ahead. Government compensation may come, but it may be too little and a poor substitute for a life-sustaining livelihood. Aparna Pallavi has more.

11 July 2007 - Till about a year back, 50-year-old Shankari Bagal had never known want. She lost her husband many years back, and some four years back her son also died, leaving behind a wife and three small children. But Shankari and her daughter-in-law had together continued to earn a decent living by cultivating the four bighas (local measure - three bighas is roughly equal to one acre) of rich four-crop land that they were sharecropping. (Landowner allows sharecroppers to cultivate the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land.)

The roof, as it were, came crashing over Shankari's head when this land acquired by Tata for its now infamous car factory at Singur. "I used to always have heaps of paddy in my court yard," says Shankari. "We used to take two crops of paddy, apart from potatoes, vegetables and groundnuts. But now we have to think twice for every handful of rice we decide to cook."

Sharecropper Shankari Bagal with her family. Pic: Aparna Pallavi.

Women in Singur are no strangers to farming. Especially among sharecropping families, women and girls regularly participate in farming activities to save labour costs, and are as skilled in agricultural work as their male counterparts. "Since the law grants sharecroppers permanent cultivation rights in West Bengal, and since the rent for the land is also reasonable – 25 per cent of the produce, it is not uncommon for women to go on cultivating a piece of land successfully in case of the husband's death, and the family's economic status does not change very much due to the man's death," says Anuradha Talwar of the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samiti, an organisation of agricultural labourers.

But for the female sharecroppers of Singur, everything changed after the now wellknown Tata car project entered the scene. Along with some 12,000 land owners (numbers estimated by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation's status report on the Singur project), the land acquisition for the Tata factory has displaced a large number of unregistered sharecroppers out of livelihood. Government figures put the total number sharecroppers on the acquired land at 407, of which unregistered sharecroppers are 170. But estimates by organisations like the Nagrik Mancha and Sanhati Udyog put the numbers of unregistered sharecroppers at not less than 1,200 families, of which roughly 8 to ten per cent are women-headed households.

In Shankari's village of Dobandi alone, 90 families of unregistered sharecroppers have lost their livelihoods. Of these, 12 women-headed households have been the hardest hit, and seven such families in this village are now on the brink of starvation. One elderly woman, Bimala Khamaru, has already died of starvation.

"Employment is available anything between five and seven kilometres away. Older women like me cannot commute so far, and younger married women have children and homes to take care of." • Land titles don't come easy • Whose family? Whose land?

Dobandi is located adjacent to the land acquired by the Tatas. The 90 families in the village are all landless, and had been sharecropping on land close to the village for generations. All of this land has now been acquired by Tata, leaving the villagers without a livelihood. While the men have found casual employment as agricultural labourers -- of course the wages are very low compared to what they earned as sharecroppers, the women have all been forced to remain home.

The reason is simple, says Satyabala Patra, who has also lost her three bighas of sharecropping land, "Employment is available anything between five and seven kilometres away. Older women like me cannot commute so far, and younger married women have children and homes to take care of." Satyabala's only daughter is now supporting her mother on a wage of Rs.30 per day, for which she has to commute 30 kms every day. "How will I ever get my daughter married?" she asks worriedly.

Durga Bairagi, aged 67, used to actively take part in the farming activities on her family's five bighas of sharecropping land along with her two sons and two daughters-in-law until the acquisition for the Tata project. "Our father-in-law died young, and she farmed the land and brought up her three children all by herself," says her daughter-in-law Jayanti. "Up until last year she used to go to the farm every day and supervise and keep track of every activity." But after the land was taken away, Durga is a skin-and-bone wreck. "We used to be five workers in our house," she says in a quavering voice, "but now only my two sons work. The Rs.80 per day that they earn after commuting 15 kms is not enough to feed our family of 12."

All these women, whose economic status has undergone such a drastic change due to the land acquisition, were originally not deemed eligible for any kind of compensation. As per the West Bengal government's status report on Singur, sharecroppers have to be paid 25 per cent of the total compensation for land, including crop compensation. But this compensation is reserved only for sharecroppers who are registered with the government. Says Swapan Ganguli of the Singur Krishi Jami Rakkha Committee, "According to the law sharecroppers in West Bengal have to be registered with the government. But given the excellent relations between land-owners and sharecroppers in the Singur area, many had not bothered to register themselves, and are now left with no support."

According to Ganguli, no proper survey of sharecroppers in the area was done before the land acquisition. "While the government's lie that most of the land was taken by consent was nailed after owners of 367 acres of land filed an affidavit in court stating that their land was taken without their consent, the bargadars, as sharecroppers are known in this area, were not consulted at all. Even the numbers of sharecroppers was heavily downplayed in the status report."

But the government's thinking seems to have evolved. The collector of Hooghli district, Binod Kumar, now says that the government is offering unregistered bargadars compensation at par with registered ones. He says that they are now conducting field inquiries, as there are no records. According to Kumar, around 360-370 unregistered bargadars have applied for compensation till date and they will be compensated at par with registered bargadars after the completion of field inquiries to confirm the authenticity of their claims. He expects the process to be completed in a month. No special provisions, he said, had been made for female-headed sharecropping families.

Artabal Das with her daughter. Pic: Aparna Pallavi.

Atrabala Das, another unregistered sharecropper, says that the economic difference made by the land acquisition is huge. Atrabala's two bighas of land used to yield 100 sacks (50 quintals) of potatoes every season, apart from paddy and vegetables. "Today, even a year after the land was taken, I have some paddy and potatoes left from our previous crop," says she, "I do not know what I and my daughter will do after that stock is finished."

Whether or not the unregistered female sharecroppers of Singur will finally get any kind of compensation will also depend heavily on how the political situation in the area will turn out. But do they want compensation in the first place?

Atrabala says that even if they were given compensation, the amounts would be too meagre. The government rate of compensation for land in Singur, after several revisions, stands at a little above Rs.8 lakhs per acre at present, which, according to locals, is substantially below the market price. Atrabala notes that a sharecropper will be entitled to just 25 per cent of this amount, which is too low to sustain them for the rest of their life. "I need my land, not money. It was the land that sustained us. If I had a son, I could have sent him anywhere to work. We would at least not have starved. But my daughter is young. How can I send her to work among strangers? How does the government expect us to survive? Should we all commit suicide?"

Deprived of their lands and livelihood, unable to find any kind of work, the female sharecroppers of Singur are today looking at bleak days ahead. ⊕

Aparna Pallavi
11 Jul 2007

Aparna Pallavi is a journalist based in Nagpur, and writes on development issues. She is working on 'The Feminine Face of the Vidarbha Agrarian Crisis' under a National Foundation for India fellowship.