Demanding immediate return of land acquired from farmers for the proposed Tata Steel project in lohandiguda region of insurgency-infested Bastar region, Congress members on Monday created noisy scenes in Chhattisgarh Assembly and also staged a walkout.
Taking up the issue through call attention motion, Congress Member Deepak Baij said that the State Government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up the Steel plant in the region in a hurry and also acquired land from farmers in this connection. The MoU for setting up the plant in lohandiguda was signed in 2005 and around 2,044 hectares of land was acquired from 10 villages, including Chhote Paroda, Belar, Bandaji, Kumhali, Chhindgaon, Takraguda, Dhuragaon, Sirisguda, Dabpal and Beliyapal, he said.
Baij further added that as many as 1709 farmers were affected due to the project and compensation was paid to 1165 farmers. Neither the affected farmers were rehabilitated nor they got benefits under the government schemes like jobs, drought-relief measures and fertilizers and seeds.
The State Government has cancelled the prospecting license of Tata group for mining and presently, there is no ray of hope for setting up any plant in the proposed area, said the Congress member, adding that due to the situation, massive resentment is prevailing among the people.
In his statement, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Prem Prakash Pandey said that private land measuring around 1764.61 hectares was acquired in 10 villages falling under lohandiguda region for Tata Integrated Steel Plant. Moreover, 278.84 hectares Government land was also allocated to the Industries Department in this regard.
According to Pandey, as many as 1707 farmers were affected from the project from which compensation were paid to 1165 farmers while 542 did not turn up to receive the compensation even after repeated efforts. Compensation of remaining farmers has been deposited with Revenue Deposit fund.
As per the provision of Chhattisgarh State Model Rehabilitation Policy-2005, affected farmers are eligible for rehabilitation and resettlement which will be provided to them during setting up the project. Presently, the acquired land is under the possession of affected farmers on which they undertake farming, he said.
Meanwhile, Congress member Bhupesh Baghel said that although, the acquired land is under the possession of farmers but they are facing numerous problems in undertaking farming. They are unable to sell their produce at cooperative societies and are not getting benefits of agriculture schemes. Besides, he also sought information that the stand of government towards returning of acquired land to farmers as the project may not be set up.
The land was acquired for Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC) and the ownership of land is with CSIDC, answered the Minister, adding that compensation in this connection has been provided to affected farmers and compensation of rest of the farmers has been deposited with Revenue Deposit fund.
Pandey further added that rest of the farmers can take compensation amount at any time. Dissatisfied with the Minister’s reply, Congress members created noisy scenes in the House and staged a walkout demanding immediate return of acquired land.