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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mamata Banerjee's doublespeak on land acquisition -Saugata Roy

Mamata Banerjee's doublespeak on land acquisition -Saugata Roy

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published Published on Oct 18, 2012   modified Modified on Oct 18, 2012
-The Times of India

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may root for a hands-off policy on land acquisition, but her Cabinet approved acquisition of 64 acre land for a power project at Dalkhola in West Bengal's Uttar Dinajpur in May. Her political rivals are backing farmers protesting against the state government's land acquisition bid.

Forward Bloc MLA from Chakulia Ali Imran Ramz has planned a Nandigram-like stir against the state government. "The Mamata Banerjee government stands exposed. The CM says her government is against forcible acquisition, but the police have been picking up dissenting farmers on false charges," he said. The police forced some farmers to sign on the land register and accept the compensation. "Dissenting farmers filed an affidavit before the magistrate saying they are opposed to land acquisition. Most of the land is fertile and yields double crop," said Ramz.

The Power Grid Corporation needs 64 acres in two mouzas of Dalkhola for the project. "It would facilitate transmission of electricity from Sikkim to West Bengal," a Power Grid official said.

The proposal was submitted to the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government issued the final acquisition notification on May 21, 2010, said special land acquisition officer Uttar Dinajpur Soumen Bose.

There was not much progress on the ground as the embattled Left Front government was busy tackling the anti-land acquisition stir in Singur and Nandigram.

Days after Mamata Banerjee came to power in May 2011, Power Grid officials asked Trinamool Congress minister and Islampur MLA Abdul Karim Chowdhury to break the logjam. Chowdhury consulted local bodies and MLAs and informed Mamata that they had no objection. Mamata gave her approval based on Chowdhury's inputs.

District land officials said the government could acquire only 13 of the total 64 acres. "We cannot progress after the trouble in two mouzas. The minister, district magistrate and two local MLAs tried to persuade unwilling farmers and pattadars. Some of the men who accepted compensation cheques later changed their stance," a district land officer said.

Chairman of the Congress-run Dalkhola Municipality Subhas Goswami, however, said the Power Grid Corporation offered "good compensation" to land owners. "They offered Rs 19 lakh per acre when the market price is Rs 4-5 lakh an acre," he said.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has offered the Power Grid Corporation 64 acres, free of encumbrances, if the corporation shifts the project to the state.

The Times of India, 18 October, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mamata-Banerjees-doublespeak-on-land-acquisition/articleshow/16858168.cms


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