I was offered Rs 28 lakh for land that is worth Rs 2 crore, says farmer

Valsad Harshadbhai Patel a local farmer in Jujwa Valsad calls the government audacious The 60yearold who grows mango chikoo and sugarcane and owns two acres and 14 gunthas of land both nonagricultural and agricultural in a prime area says the authorities are offering him just R28 lakh for 20 gunthas half acre that could otherwise fetch him at least R2 croreHarshadbhai takes us to his nonagricultural land which he earlier intended to transform into a commercial business centre As we walk through his land in Jujwa he says This land falls in the commercial area of Jujwa so the market value is very high When I found out that this part is going for the bullet train I asked about compensation I wanted to use the land to build a shopping centre with which I would rake in crores in profit They offered just Rs 28 lakhThis is in stark contrast to the plan laid out in Japan International Cooperation Agencys JICA Resettlement Action Plan JICA is partly funding the project Among the several guidelines it was said that affected people would get fair compensation ie market price for their land and property Thats certainly not the case in either Valsad or Dungra village in VapiTanoj Kumar an adivasi from Dungra says Our home was built by our ancestors Where will our family of 12 go if the government forces us to vacate His home stands on an area of 10000 sq ft We should get Rs 50 lakh at least but they are saying they will give us Rs 3 lakh How have they decided these ratesThe mohallas of Vaghaldhara village that will be razedA local activist tells us that in 2007 Dungra village was registered under urban limits But the jantri land rates were not revised Once a village comes into urban limits from rural the market rates need to be changed While per sq foot the market rate is R400 people here are promised only Rs 176 So one acre land will be bought for Rs 740000 but ideally the rate is Rs 16000000 he informsWiping out entire farmsThe road to Gundlav village 7 km from Valsad city is lined with mango trees Bhagubhai Patel catches our glance and adds Some people want to destroy this landscape Can you imagine wiping out these farms and treesBhagubhai 67 is the president of the Gujarat Khedut Samajs GKS Valsad chapter Until a few years ago he was the manager of the Valsad District Cooperative Bank and would often visit Mumbai for bankrelated work I used to take the Shatabdi Express and reach Mumbai in three hours The trains were mostly empty then and more so today Why then do we need a highspeed rail corridor between these cities he asksBhagubhai says he actively started working with the GKS about three years ago when the bullet train was announced They published a notification in a local newspaper on February 1 2017 stating in Gujarati the number of villages that were to be affected by the bullet train he says adding Those who could read saw what the future held for them But the illiterate didnt know that the authorities were going to bulldoze through their farmlandBhagubhai Patel Harshadbhai Patel Navinbhai Patel and Jinabhai PatelAccording to the notification 30 villages in Valsad district will be affected Valsad is known as the mango capital of Gujarat It has also been declared the Agri Export Zone by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority and has since prospered because of its highquality mangoes and chikoos Farmers with small land holdings depend almost entirely on fruit production for their income Bhagubhai says Agri Export Zones were introduced in 2001 as an agricultural equivalent of Special Economic Zones so that state governments could invest in resources to help boost production and export of crops conducive to that regionGundlav Vaghaldhara and Jujwa villages Map Uday MohiteIn Valsad villagers are largely dependent on their agricultural land Through these notifications the government should declare what the market value of this land is but they dont The market value for one bigha 70 per cent of one acre is nearly Rs 70 lakh But farmers are being offered a maximum of R40 lakh The villagers are not against development but they deserve fair compensation he saysHarshadbhai says that about a year ago NHSRCL officials visited Jujwa and handed receipts stating how much money each landowner would receive But they had no official signature nor were these on a letterhead They were not authentic merely pieces of paper with a random amount written on them he says Harshadbhai also runs a cement company and earns about Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh annually Our panchayat has not given permission for this project but the officials are telling me they will transfer the compensation amount directly into my accountNo need for consentThe government no longer needs a landowners consent to take away the land for a public project In August 2016 President Pranab Mukherjee gave his approval for the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Gujarat Amendment Bill 2016 passed by the Gujarat Assembly in March that year Among other things a key amendment in the Bill removed the provision of seeking the consent of the affected parties While the original Act required 80 per cent of landowners to approve the acquisition of their land this Bill states those provisions need not be followed if the land is being acquired for public purposes Bhagubhai tells usIn Valsad Bhagubhai says about 800 to 1000 farmers will be affected by the projectThe Resettlement Action Plan drafted for JICA by Arcadis and available on their site states that those who lose their lands should also be compensated for loss of properties land structure and others of individual as well as that of the community and loss of livelihood to provide better living conditions and making concerted effort for providing sustainable income to affected families and lastly to develop a harmonious relationship between acquiring body and affected familiesBut that doesnt seem to be the case in Valsad at leastNavinbhai Patel a scheduled tribe farmer takes us to Vaghaldhara a hamlet 20 km from Valsad In this tribal village residents live in separate mohallas Each mohalla has around seven homes In Navinbhais mohalla we enter his newly built twostoreyed pucca home In our mohalla all seven homes are going to be demolished I am losing 500 mango trees and 20 to 25 chikoo trees When the bullet train officials arrived here a year ago they gave us a receipt which said I would be paid R24 lakh for my land But the market value is almost double that so I refused the offer the 55yearold tells usHis uncle Jinabhai Patel who lives in the same mohalla is losing both his land and home The 70yearold farmer says They threatened to destroy everything and not give us a penny if we didnt give consent We are scared but will not budge I live with my wife sons their wives and kids here Where will I goJinabhai even suggested that they be given land elsewhere instead But they are not agreeing There are no promises of resettling us either This project will affect Valsads mango production The district will lose its essence he addsIdiotic projectThe route will also pass through coastal regulation zone CRZ areas of Palghar and Dahanu Brian Lobo in pic of the Kashtakari Sanghatana a movement advocating the rights of tribals says Three years ago when we found out about the bullet train we thought what do we do nowmdashthe project is idiotic In a country where means of transport are slow with fewer basic facilities and lack of safety they want to run a train that will serve only 508 km It should feature nowhere on the countrys priority list for development Lobo thinks development priorities should focus on bettering the existing railway system Also why just have a certain section of society benefitted by this project when there are alternatives to serve the entire countryMumbai takes a hitThe bullet train project is set to fragment the Sanjay Gandhi National Park the Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary and the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary In January at the 52nd meeting of the National Board for Wildlife chaired by Union environment minister Dr Harsh Vardhan wildlife clearance was given to the MumbaiAhmedabad high speed train corridor The minutes of this meeting a copy of which is with midday has revealed that the board has laid preconditions for the project The board said two wildlife corridors will have to be built for animals The first corridor will be an overpass over the existing DivaVasai railway line and the proposed rail line for the bullet train Space for the second corridor will be made by elevating the existing 15km Chinchoti Anjur Phata roadThe board said MMRDA shall be responsible for the design and construction of the elevated road sectionCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to 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