by Arun Prabhudesai
We very well know the story of Tata Nano Land Dispute.
What was West Bengal’s loss though was Gujarat’s profit.
Nano’s are now coming out of the state.
However, most of the projects are not as lucky as Nano
to get a Land replacement. Did you know that 70% of total
190 projects that were supposed to be implemented have
been stalled due to Land acquisition related disputes.
The ECO Pulse study by ASSOCHAM has revealed this
startling fact.
Most of these projects are basically International companies
needing to set their shop in India.
For e.g: 22 major steel projects in the country worth
USD 82 billion are being held up because of procedural
delays in obtaining environmental impact assessment
clearance and delays in land acquisition mainly due
to public protests. One such project – Arcelor Mittal
which nearly pulled out of building 2 steel plants that
would pump close to USD 20 billion.
The reason – They were unable to acquire land
in Jharkhand and Orissa.
The study also revealed that, there are currently
18 strangled projects of India Inc to the tune
of Rs.244,815.5 crore (Rs.2.45 trillion) remained
on papers, in the form of memorandum of
understanding (MoU) and agreements over
the past three-four years.
If at all these projects had been implemented,
it would have created Jobs for 164,000 people
directly and 270,000 people indirectly !
Although, I do understand that it is important for
farmers to safeguard their lands – But the
compensation offerings are very much in line
with Market & Real Estate conditions.
I am not pointing here that Farmers should get a
raw deal – Its their land, they have right to
decide what to do with their lands.
What I do not understand here is why is
government not intervening.
This is a win-win situation.
If Indian Government takes these
projects seriously, I am sure there
are plenty of solutions available
to overcome these Land disputes.
What is your take?
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