Development Dialogues: Dainik Statesman

Showing posts with label Dainik Statesman. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Cash Incentives for Officials Who Take Initiative for Land Acquisition

February 2, 2008: West Bengal state government officers are going to receive cash “incentives” if they are able to “locate” land for industrialization. This scheme was first started experimentally in Singur, but has now become a routine affair, informed a senior bureaucrat of the land and land reforms department, who wanted to remain anonymous. He informed that Rs 2 million had been distributed among department officials for finding out land for the Tata Motors project in Singur. Now around Rs 650,000 has been distributed amongst officers for locating and acquiring 250 acres of land in Kharagpur for the proposed heavy vehicle manufacturing plant of the Tata-Hitachi joint venture Telcom. Among this, cash incentive of Rs 30, 000 has been received by the land and land reforms department principal secretary Mr. P. K. Agarwal.

According to this unnamed official, this scheme has apparently worked well for the government which is in quite a fix trying to locate land for the proposed industries in the state. Previously, land and land reforms department officials showed scant interest in developing land use maps for the different districts or for finding out the presence of unused land. However, after the cash incentive scheme was started, there is a now a lot of interest in submitting land use maps from the districts and ascertaining the availability of unused lands.

The search for a mechanism to find land for industries was continuing for quite some time. The state trade and industries minister Nirupam Sen and the land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Molla had met a number of times with the chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and District Magistrates on this issue. Now the cash incentive scheme has been worked out as a successful measure to induce government officials to take the initiative in finding land for industrialization.

Seikh Sadar Nayim, Dainik Statesman, 2nd Feb, 2008. Translated by Partho Sarathi Ray, Sanhati

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Dankuni - Resistance to Massive Land Acquisition for Real Estate

http://sanhati.com/news/674/

The “development” process in West Bengal is taking place in a two stage mechanism - conversion of agricultural land into industrial land, and conversion of industrial land into real estate. Land acquisition in Dankuni clearly demonstrates how the aim of the “development” process is really the extraction of maximum profits by private enities from resources, in this case, land. Real estate provides the maximum profit, therefore functioning factories in Dankuni are being shut down to acquire land for a housing project by the powerful DLF group.

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Workers and Peasants Unitedly Resist Land Acquisition for Housing Project in Dankuni

January 30, 2008.

Preparations are underway in Dankuni in Hooghly district, West Bengal, for a movement on the lines of Nandigram, against the government’s decision to convert large tracts of industrial and agricultural land into real estate for the DLF housing project.

The Land Protection Committee and Gano-Unnanayan o Jana-Adhikar Manch are holding meetings in the villages. On 30th January, in a meeting convened by the Manch at Dankuni Brigade grounds, there was participation by SUCI, Kisan Majdur Congress together with BUPC members from Nandigram. Around 10,000 workers of 121 large, medium and small scale industries have joined hands with 32,000 farmers of the area to save their means of livelihood. Ali Afjal Chand of Dankuni Industrial Growth Centre and Bachhu Ghosh of Gano-Unnanayan o Jana-Adhikar Manch are working together with the local land protection committees. Hooghly district’s Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind has also joined forces with them.

In a survey of the area it has been found that around 10,000 workers would have to be evicted from around 190 factories, which includes a firm belonging to Chandan Basu, the son of the ex-chief minister Jyoti Basu. The only plants that would be exempted are the ones belonging to Coca Cola, Coal India, Steel Authority of India and B.D. Centenary Polymers. Joint-secretary of the Gano-Unnanayan o Jana-Adhikar Manch, Kaji Saifuddin, has stated that 4069 acres of land present in the 20 moujas of Dankuni would be acquired for the proposed housing project. The proposed area includes Danbatipur, Dankuni, Dankuni Beel, Gobra, Chakundi, Noiti, Panchghora, Mollaber, Bhadua, Jaikrishnapur, Begampur, Bankagacha and Chikran moujas. Besides these, there are plans to include nine moujas of Srirampur block and 20 moujas of Singur block.

The proposed housing project covers areas of fertile three-crop agricultural land in 40 villages besides the industries. Together with this there are temples, mosques, burning ghats, cemeteries, idgahs, anganwadi centres, shops and markets, primary and junior high schools. The local population includes 12,000 Muslims and 17,000 Scheduled Castes/Tribes and 3000 others. The Land Protection Committees state that 95% of the people of the area not ready to part with their land. They have clearly stated in the meeting convened by the district magistrate that they would not give up their land under any condition.

The Durgapur Express highway passes through the proposed housing area. It is bounded on one side by the Burdwan cord railway line and the Delhi road on the other. People of the area have been disturbed ever since the land acquisition process began in the area for the proposed housing project. Ali Afjal Chand of the Dankuni Industrial Growth Centre claims that attempts to forcibly acquire land would give rise to a Nandigram-like situation. He further claimed that in order to enable the process of eviction, the state government has been dumping waste material from Rishra township into the sewage and irrigation canals of the area. In this way the Saraswati river, Bamihati canal and Dankuni canal are being deliberately destroyed. This, in spite of the fact that all the land in the area is shown as agricultural land in the records of the land reforms department.

He stated that the people of the area are getting ready to resist this attempt of the state government to act as contractors for converting agricultural and industrial land into a huge housing project by the DLF group.

This news item appeared in the Dainik Statesman. It has been translated, with commentary, by Partho Sarathi Ray, Sanhati.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Nov. 12, 2007 - Foul smell over Nandigram: A Dainik Statesman report

http://sanhati.com/front-page/408/#18

Nandigram Free from Terrorists: CPM
by Sukumar Mitra

(Article translated from Bengali by Bithi Bera)

Nandigram, 11-11-07

As the CRPF reached Tamluk Sunday afternoon, the CPM is trying to complete the capture of 17 blocks before their arrival here. After Sunset, they captured people from Nandigram and Garchakraberia, tied their hands in their back, and made them stand in a line. From behind this human shield, they attacked Nandigram, Gokulnagar, Kalicharanpur, Sonachura and Kendemari, by shooting and throwing bombs, from Khejuri, Bhangabera and Tekhali bridge. In order to complete their capture, the CPM stopped the 2 CRPF vehicles near Reapara. The CRPF have returned to Chandipur.
Nandigram was sealed from Sunday morning. Journalists from Dainik Statesman, Bartaman and other newspapers were denied entry, while those from Ganashakti and two others were allowed inside.

BUPC got news yesterday night around 9 PM that CPM have sent 15 bodies in black polybags to Belda, West Midnapur. They afterwards recognized and caught Tapan Ghosh and Sukur Ali on that road near Egra. During the night, the CPM started to burn the dead bodies at the Janani brick kiln at Serkachowk. The smell of burnt flesh spread all over Nandigram.

Lakshman Seth celebrated the event by firing crakers and fireworks the whole night. At the same time, only one sound could be heard on the other side of the river: crying, weeping and funeral rites.

Sunday from 11 AM, CPM cadres starting from Khejuri, Mansibel, Chunpiri and Tulaghata, attacked Nandigram, Gokulnagar and Sonachura by shooting and throwing bombs.

At the same time, the police went out of the police station in an attempt to liberate the prisoners held at Khejuri. However, they were attacked on their way by CPM near Amgachia, and retreated back without responding.

The Officer in Charge was sitting in Nandigram police station from 6 AM. He was returning home to Garchakraberia when he was accosted by two BUPC leaders, Sheikh Supiyan and Abu Taher, crying and weeping. They asked him: “Where are you going, why are you going?” The officer, Mr. Debasis Boral replied: “I will see what I can do” and headed towards Tekhali. But on reaching Amgachia, he was attacked by the CPM and returned.

At 11:35 AM, Anjan Das Adhikari from Adhikaripara told by phone: “Everything is finished”. Balaram Das from Sonachura told that CPM cadres captured his brother Abhiram Das and kept him prisoner in Khejuri.

At 1:15 PM, I was standing in Nandigram when a motorcycle came very fast from Gokulnagar. The driver, Shadesh Das Adhikari, was alone and fell down when he tried to stop the motorcycle. He was crying, I had never seen him so terrorised during the last 11
months. He told me that he had narrowly escaped death, but had been unable to protect anyone else. “Maybe they are dead now. Everything is finished”, he told. “They are shooting and throwing bombs on Adhikaripara from 3 sides. The attackers had in their hands Insas, Meghna, SLR, automatic rifles, AK-47 and bags full of bombs”, he added.

At 3 PM, I got knews that one CPM group entered Sonachura through Southkalibazar and was attacking Garchakraberia. Thousands of people were fleeing from their houses and seeking shelter in Nandigram. CPM captured Sonachura, Gangra, Gokulnagar one by one.

At 6 PM they also captured Garchakraberia. They didn’t keep a single house standing. The house of Congress District Secretary Milon Pradhan was burnt and his father was captured and taken as a prisoner to Khejuri.

Dainik Statesman, 12th November 2007