Former Chief Minister and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha chief Babulal Marandi has demanded 80 per cent of amount for the displaced families, earned from the sale of land acquired from them for establishing Heavy Engineering Corporation in Dhurwa.
Writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Marandi stated that as most of the land acquired from the original raiyyats remained unused which further being is sold out to several non-government organisations for further use, the amount received from it must be given to them as compensation for loss recovery.
“looking into the interest of the ‘raiyyats’ (landlords), it is my humble request to provide at least 80 per cent of the amount received from sell of land to the displaced persons for which proper directions may be passed by the concerned ministry and the State Government,” stated Marandi in his letter.
“It may also be put into your attention that 675 acres of land purchased from the HEC will be further sold out to the top real estate companies after constructing big housing complexes, duplexes, malls, and commercial complexes on high rates by inviting tenders for them in the name of Smart City, while original raiyyats will not be getting a single penny out of the profit gained by the State Government,” said Marandi in his letter.
The JVM chief further added that most of the land acquired for the purpose remained unused which should had been returned to its original land lords under land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Act 2013, rather it is being allotted to the Government and Non-Government organizations by HEC from time to time on the market price to compensate the losses incurred by it.
The HEC was established at Ranchi in the year 1960, counted among the world’s best engineering industries, for which 7886 acres of land was acquired during the year 1955 to 1959 by paying compensation of merely Rs 1300-3500 per acre. Marandi further stated that though some of the displaced persons were rehabilitated by providing jobs in HEC, but still there were many who have been protesting for getting jobs and rehabilitation.
Marandi also alleged in his letter that the money received after selling out the unsed land was used only for the purpose of compensating the losses incurred by the HEC and paying retirement benefits to the retired employees, but was neither spent for the rehabilitation of displaced families, not it was spent over them to compensate their losses.
“Efforts are being made by the HEC to give 675 acres of land to the State Government for establishing Smart City into it for which it will get Rs 743 crore, which supposedly will be spent also for paying the losses incurred by the Corporation and paying the dues of its employees,” Marandi added in his letter.