The Singur standoff may have encouraged a group of farmers in Rajasthan to demand they be allowed to rent out the land to be acquired and mined for lignite for a power plant.
BJP member of Parliament Manvendra Singh, the brain behind the farmers’ demand in Barmer, said the government and Sajjan Jindal, who is building the power plant, had agreed in principle but nothing had yet been given in writing.
Barmer collector Rajiv Jain said the acquisition law had no provision for renting of land. “The government is consulting legal experts about the technicalities of the proposal.”
The 1,080MW Bhadres Lignite Power Plant is being set up in desert district Barmer, at a site 588km from Jaipur, under a deal between the Rajasthan government and Jindal South West Electricals Limited.
The government has issued a notice for acquisition of 17,592.1 bighas (10,907 acres) in Kapurdi block and 22,347 bighas (13,855 acres) in Jalipa block. One bigha in Rajasthan roughly equals 0.62 acre.
The land will be used to mine for lignite for cheap power generation. The government now buys electricity at Rs 10 a unit.
Bhadres Lignite, which will be the state’s first non-government power plant, is being built at a cost of Rs 4,804 crore and was expected to start generation by October 2008. It will supply electricity at Rs 2.50 a unit.
But the cheap power comes at a human cost: the plant and the mine will displace 42,000 people and one lakh cattle from 29 villages.
The government has acquired around 3,000 bighas (1,860 acres) for the plant itself. A notification was issued in 2006 and the acquisition was completed in March 2007.
The mining on the land to be acquired will be done by Barmer Lignite Mining Company Limited, a joint venture between Rajasthan State Minerals and Mining Ltd and Raj West Power Limited, a Jindal Group subsidiary. The government owns 51 per cent stake in the company.
The Kisan Bhoomi Awapti Sangharsh Samiti, an anti-acquisition group spearheaded by Manvendra, is now demanding that the farmers be allowed to rent out the land for mining so that they don’t lose ownership.
“I have put forward the proposal…. Jindal CEO Sajjan Jindal and the government agreed in principle on August 13,” Manvendra, son of former foreign minister Jaswant Singh, said.
He added that the issue was important to the farmers though this was not a movement “as big as Singur”. “This will allow the ownership of land to remain with the farmers. But till now it is a verbal assurance; the details are being worked out and nothing has been given in writing. But in India, (one’s) word is law and we hope Jindal keeps his word.”
A Raj West official said: “A proposal has been floated. Nothing has been finalised. The details are still being worked out.”
The farmers say they don’t want to lose possession of the land they have been holding for generations, more so because real estate prices in the region are shooting up.
Akshay Singh, a farmer whose land has already been acquired for the plant, said: “It would have been better if I were allowed to rent it out. Our future generations could have reaped the benefits of the soaring land prices.”
Real estate agents say Barmer has become a hot investment destination with buyers from other states queuing up for land.
The villagers are now demanding anything between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 per bigha, up from Rs 1,000 per bigha a short time ago.
The district’s fortunes rose when Cairn India discovered oil and gas deposits at 12 places in the Barmer-Sanchore basin. Of these, the Mangla oilfield is the largest. Commercial production is expected from Mangla by
Source:telegraphindia.com