Chandrapur: This sleepy, little village tucked away in the lesser known district of Chandrapur in Maharashtra is humming with life as its residents have hit a jackpot — enhanced compensation for their land acquired by a public sector coal miner.
And happy is their local parliamentarian, Hansraj Ahir, whose persistent efforts have helped the villagers make the windfall gains.
Ahir’s intervention has ensured that the local farmers will get Rs8-10 lakh per acre for their land, against the beggarly Rs20,000-45,000 per acre which was originally offered by Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL).
WCL has decided to acquire 1,700 acres of the village land for its coal mine project.
The Maharashtra cabinet last year had passed a resolution bringing rates of the land to be acquired for coal mining on a par with the rates in neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
“However, the entire process took longer than stipulated and hence I had to intervene to get these simple farmers their rights. They will now be paid compensation as per the revised rates approved by the Maharashtra government,” Ahir said.
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from the backward Chandrapur district in eastern Maharasthra, Ahir said in 2010 the Chhattisgarh government issued a notification, making it mandatory for CIL and its subsidiaries operating in that state to offer a minimum rate of Rs6 lakh per acre for fallow land, Rs8 lakh per acre for rain-fed land and Rs10 lakh per acre land for irrigated land.
“This did not happen in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, from where the WCL is operating. For the farmers here, it offered only Rs20,000 to Rs45,000 per acre. We demanded that WCL must offer rates on the lines of Chhattisgarh,” he said.
Ahir said he and his party had been fighting for the last decade for an adequate compensation package, including higher per acre rates for land and jobs for the displaced in WCL for the land acquired by it from farmers. After a long struggle, he said, WCL accepted the demand and the farmers are now elated that their lands will fetch a whopping collective pay off amounting to Rs125 crore.
“On an average, each farmer is likely to get a handsome Rs 833,000 for his land,” Ahir said. Dinkar Derkar, 35, who is a third generation farmer with only three acres of land, was elated by the news. “I cannot tell you how happy I am to have received this compensation for my land. There sure is a tinge of sadness that my land will be lost to coal mines, but I can finally pay off all my debts and still have something saved for my children’s future,” Derkar said. IANS
