The farmers’ meeting at Alamatti convened by Large and Medium Industries Minister and district in-charge Murugesh Nirani on Monday failed to arrive at a consensus on the compensation to be fixed for the land to be acquired for the Kudagi thermal power plant proposed to be set up by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Kudagi in Basavana Bagewadi taluk of Bijapur district.
Demands
As soon as the meeting began, the farmers of Golsangi, Kudagi, Masuti and Telagi demanded that a compensation of Rs. 25 lakh per acre of non-irrigated land and Rs. 30 lakh for an acre of irrigated land be fixed.
They also demanded pension of Rs. 5,000 a month for every farmer who loses land. Besides this, they told the Minister that their villages should be provided with basic amenities such as roads, drinking water and 24-hour power supply.
Mr. Nirani refused to agree to farmers’ demand, the latter told the former that the project should be shifted to Indi taluk where the farmers have agreed to provide land at cheaper rates and a few elected representatives in the district are also ready for negotiation with the farmers in this regard.
However, Mr. Nirani made futile attempts to convince the farmers. He told them that they should stop demanding more compensation for the land to be acquired for the thermal power plant because the State Government had agreed to provide a job to a member of the family which would have to give up the land for the project.
In addition to that, the Government would train unskilled labourers so that they can get employment and an ITI college would be started in the village to provide education to students.
The Minister also said that farmers who purchase land at any other place using the compensation amount would be exempted from paying stamp duty.
However the farmers refused to agree to the Minister’s proposal for compensation.
Problem of pollution
Another demand of the farmers was that the authorities should ensure that fly ash from the thermal power plant does not get accumulated at the Alamatti dam. The participants of the meeting said that the dam is 15 km away from the proposed site of thermal power plant but if the fly ash gets deposited in it, it would pollute the water there risking the health of several hundreds of people.
Later, when the Minister and the authorities concerned failed to assure the farmers that their demands would be met, they walked out of the meeting.