Thane: Rs 106 cr paid, but no sight of land for industrial hub in Ambernath village

Eighty small and medium industrialists have been landed a body blow by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation MIDC Nearly two years since they paid a collective earnest money of Rs 106 crore mdash at R4000sqm of land mdash to the MIDC to set up units in Ambernathrsquos Pale village the project is yet to take offFarmers of the village claim that they havenrsquot ceded ownership of their landThe hitch in the plan alleged dubious claims of land ownership The MIDC claimed to have 7954 hectares of land in Pale at its disposal but villagers said they havenrsquot ceded ownership of their plotsVillagers have built a temple for their local deity in the hope that the MIDC would not take over their land PicsSameer MarkandeThe ill thoughtout project has begun to take a toll on some of the industrialists They have been paying high interest rates on bank loans they had taken to acquire the plotsNothing to showAs per the response to an RTI query by Ashvin Thakker director of Ms Makjoy Pharma Pvt Ltd who too had invested in the project the state government had in 2007 issued a land acquisition notice to Pale village Accordingly the MIDC sought online applications for allotment of industrial plots from December 69 2013 A total of 241 online applications were received of which 55 made the cut The MIDC received another 251 offline applications from September 19 2013September 11 2014 Of these 25 applicants were awarded allotmentsAccording to Thakker the MIDC quoted a price of R4000sqm and collected an earnest money of Rs 106 crore in all from the 80 applicantsldquoNo infrastructure has been provided to date The MIDC is yet to take possession of the land from the villagers and have not even conducted a basic land survey to mark the plots for the industrial unitsrdquo he allegedAs per the RTI reply the MIDC awarded the contract for road construction and water supply to a private agency on January 1 last year The work has to be completed by January 8 2017 ldquoBut the work has still not begun Besides on February 2 2015 the local MIDC office wrote to the regional office in Thane asking that boundary lines be drawn for the acquired land The response sent on September 16 stated that the blueprint of the plan has not yet been finalisedrdquo said Thakker who paid R30 lakh for 3000 sqm of landNot a twoway streetAs per his offer letter dated June 6 2014 Thakker has to develop his industrial unit within three years from the date of possession or the agreement to lease mdash a process thatrsquos now been indefinitely delayedHe said some investors have pumped as much as R20 crore into the project The plots range from 1000 sqm to 50000 sqm ldquoWe were to invest around R2000 crore more on constructing our units and giving jobs to the localsrdquoAnother industrialist pointed out that as per the agreement with the MIDC unit holders were warned that they would be charged a penalty of 18 interest their allotments would be cancelled and their entire earnest money forfeited for defaulting on payments But the MIDC has not been held to such rigid terms of accountability ldquoFor two years the MIDC has held on to our money Our money is not entitled to any interest On the contrary some of us have taken bank loans and are paying interests on them without being given possession of our landrdquo rued the industrialistBhaichand Panchal proprietor of Ms Panchal Fabricator Pvt Ltd said he had paid for around 10000 sqm of land after taking a bank loanUmesh Tayade president of Additional Ambernath Manufacturers Association whose 1015 members have also invested in the project said the units have the potential to generate some 20000 jobs ldquoThe project should have been operational by now The MIDC has failed to sort out crucial issues This might send an adverse message to the business communityrdquoLack of trustLocal Sena MLA Dr Balaji Kiniker said villagers are putting up a stiff opposition to the acquisition process because of feelings of illwill After the acquisition of land was notified some MIDC officials struck a deal with farmers that their children would be enrolled in Industrial Training Institutes and given jobs in the industrial units besides the compensation They were also promised 15 of the developed land But after the then executive engineer of the MIDC office in Ambernath was transferred his successor refused to make such a commitment Besides Pale villagers have learnt hard lessons from the acquisition of land in the neighbouring Jamboli and Bhonavli villages to set up the additional MIDC industrial area in Ambernath Villagers had given up their land but did not get the promised jobs in return said the MLAVillagers contest acquisition claimsSunil Khare a businessman and owner of 16 acres of land in Pale said the seventh generation of his family is currently residing in the village ldquoThe entire village is spread across around 200 acres of land My neighbours mdash Prakash Sambare Jayram and Nana Thackeray mdash own similar tracts of land We never gave any document in writing or signed any paper pertaining to land acquisition as claimed by the MIDC If it claims that it had followed due procedures like conducting a land survey and a spot panchnama of the acquired land and drew up agreements with farmers then it should produce these documentsrdquo Khare alleged that revenue officials had visited their village for eight days in 2013 at the end of which they claimed to have acquired land ldquoHow was that possible in such a short span of time We have challenged this claim through a writ petition in the Bombay High CourtrdquoNorm violatedAshvin Thakker director of Ms Makjoy Pharma Pvt LtdHow could the MIDC accept offline applications for the proposed land allotments and that too for almost a whole year when we were given just one yearThe other sideAttempts to contact senior MIDC officials including Commissioner Sanjay Sethi did not yield results Industries Minister Subhash Desai however said talks with villagers are still on ldquoI have instructed the MIDC to complete this task at the earliest Investors cannot wait for an indefinite period to start their units The delay is not a good signrdquo He said the state government is working on setting up land banks ldquoThe MIDC has already acquired a few plots of landrdquo