Farmers object land acquisition policy

Farmers along the national highway 8 (NH-8) in the district are up in arms against the land acquisition for the expansion of the highway. The highway is being made into a six-lane highway and land has been acquired around it in the district. The farmers in the district who have been taking up land acquisition issues under the banner of the Ekta Gramin Praja Vichar Manch (EGPVM) have already made representations over the issue. They will now hold demonstrations at the district collectorate and submit a memorandum over the issue.

Hasmukh Bhatt of EGPVM said that around 500 farmers would lose land due to the acquisition process. "Around 100 hectares land will be acquired for the project. We are not against the acquisition, but have demanded that fair compensation should be given to the farmers," he said. Bhatt said that the new land acquisition law had been cleared by the cabinet and the farmers were insisting that this should be made the benchmark for land acquisition and not the National Highways Act under which the present acquisition was done. "The act merely gives government ‘jantri’ rates to farmers and there is no other compensation like solacium for the farmers," he added.

The manch has also alleged that in many cases the survey of the land to be acquired was done in the absence of farmers. As per the rules, Bhatt said, the farmer should be present when their land was being measured. The manch has said that they had raised these issues in a letter dated August 5 with the special land acquisition officer. However, they said that there was not reply to the letter. They added that the issue was also raised with the union minister for road transport and railways C P Joshi.