land acquisition/sez & displacement – 2011 - Indian Social Institute

The government's land acquisition policy has been facing opposition from farmers too in Fatehabad,Ambala, Rohtak, Panipat and other districts. However, the biggest heat generated has been over thelease of land to the RGCT. The controversial land falls in the new sectors - 58 to 67 - being developed inGurgaon by the government. A public interest litigation (PIL) filed by 15 villagers of Ullahawas before thePunjab and Haryana High Court earlier this month alleges that "unholy haste" was shown at every(government) level in processing the lease. Cornered on the issue, Hooda told the Haryana assembly thisweek: "The action of the government with regard to the lease to the RGCT is in public interest and inaccordance with the law of the land." He defended his position, saying, "There is no irregularitywhatsoever in the lease and the same has been done in accordance with the Punjab Village CommonLands (Regulation) Act, 1961, and the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964, framedthereunder." However, the opposition is unwilling to accept the argument and is seeking a probe into thewhole affair. "If the RGCT had only social service in mind, it should not have chosen the most expensiveaddress in Haryana (Gurgaon) to set up the eye hospital," senior INLD leader Sher Singh Badshami toldIANS. "It should have gone to backward areas of Mewat or Sirsa to serve people." (NIE 28/8/11)Acquisition of land for sports village notified (4)PANAJI: The state government has initiated land acquisition proceedings to acquire 3,99,729 sq m ofland to set up a 'sports village' in Mandrem for the 36th National Games, 2014. The process to acquirethe land has been notified under sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and thedeputy collector and sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Pernem has been appointed to perform the functionsof a collector, North Goa district, under the Act. "A rough plan of the land proposed to be acquired for thesports village is available for inspection in the SDO's office in Pernem for 30 days," a source said. Theissue of the proposed 'sports city' at Dhargalim in Pernem taluka, with some of the infrastructure sought tobe located in Mandrem, had rocked the legislative assembly during the budget session earlier this year.During a heated debate, Mandrem MLA Laxmikant Parsekar, who had tabled the question regarding thesports city, had charged the government of intending to build a resort through the public privatepartnership (PPP) mode under the garb of a sports city. "This is a land scam and it will cause injustice tothe people as they will not benefit from the project," Parsekar had said. While it was pointed out that theaccommodation is envisaged to house players and officials for National Games 2014, Parsekar hadsuggested that they could be accommodated in five star hotels in Bardez. But sports minister Manohar'Babu' Azgaonkar said this part of the taluka has not seen much development and hence he was keen totake the initiative. (Times of India 1/9/11)'No notice needed for possession of Singur land’ (4)Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Thursday told the Calcutta High Court, hearing Tata'schallenge of the Singur Land Act, that the establishment need not give notice for taking possession of thedisputed land. Justice IP Mukerji asked the government counsel if a notice to Tata Motors Limited (TML)was not necessary after the notification of Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, within24 hours of which possession of around 600 acres of land leased to TML was taken by the state. Counselfor the state Saktinath Mukherjee submitted that no such notice was necessary under the Civil ProcedureCode. Mukherjee claimed that the state had such powers and has vested the land as per the Singur Actand that it could take possession of the land any time after the notification. He submitted that TML hadstated in their letter to the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation that it could consider movingout, provided they were compensated. He claimed that lease is a right to enjoy a property and not to justhold on to it. Mukherjee submitted that TML had taken on lease 600 acres of land of the 997 acresacquired for the Nano car project, but shifted to Sanand in Gujarat in October 2008. The matter wasadjourned for the day and would be heard again tomorrow. (Zee News 2/9/11)Cabinet gives nod to land acquisition bill (4)New Delhi: The long-awaited Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill, to replace the archaic and muchabused Land Acquisition Act of 1894, was cleared by the cabinet on Monday. The bill will be tabled inParliament on Wednesday. The bill, fast-tracked after violent agitations in Nandigram, Singur and GreaterNoida, is understood to have proposed payment of compensation amounting to four times the market tofarmers losing their land. This marks a dilution of the proposal in an earlier draft to provide six times themarket value. The bill places the bigger onus of acquiring land on companies for their projects. Thegovernment will step in only to acquire the last 20 per cent of land required for a project. This implies