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

had filed the application for the land with the Karnataka Udyog Mitra (KUM) on August 24, 2006. The landsought, however, overlapped with the area earmarked for a project of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Ltd,Mumbai. Itasca's application had to be cleared by the State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC)headed by the chief minister with the industries minister as the vice-chairman. As the SHLCC wasmeeting on August 28, 2006, then industries minister Katta Subramanya Naidu instructed KUM toprocess the Itasca plea and place it before the meeting as an additional agenda to the Pallonji proposal.Objections that it had not been screened and needed detailed examination was overruled by the ministerthrough fax. At the SHALCC, decision on the Pallonji proposal was deferred, while the Itasca proposalwas approved. After he had his way and got all required clearances for Itasca getting the land, Kattaordered for notifying only 450.24 acres at Bandikodigehalli near Devahanalli. The compensation fixed wasbetween Rs 31 lakh and Rs 40 lakh. As both Katta and his son were aware of the proposal of thegovernment for notifying the lands, they had purchased about 15.08 acres in the village. The lands werein the name of Katta's son and wife Sowbhagya. While drawing compensation, signatures of villagerswere forged and money withdrawn. In respect of 165 villagers who had not given their consent, Rs 3.02crore was withdrawn. For 376 cheques, only 46 transaction IDs (meaning 46 persons) were allotted. Insome instances, the cheques were withdrawn in the name of dead persons. Most of the cheques weresigned, though many of the villagers were illiterates and used thumb impression. (Times of India 3/10/11)What lies ahead: TOI conclave discusses land row (4)NOIDA: Even as the Allahabad High Court has reserved its judgment in the land acquisition cases filed byfarmers of Noida and Greater Noida in the Gautam Budh Nagar district, deliberations by the variousstakeholders involved at a recent conclave looked at what lay ahead of the land row. Held at theRadisson Hotel in Noida on Saturday by the Times of India group in association with the Investors Clinic,the subject of discussion 'Noida unraveled - The road ahead' provided for a power-packed debate to clearthe cloud of uncertainties being faced by not only the development authorities but also the investors andend users. With Noida and Greater Noida being in the eye of a land acquisition storm for the past fivemonths, the main question asked was whether the land row would be resolved and if the governmentwould be able to set the pace for further urban development and growth. Another query posed waswhether the concept of 'affordable housing' floated by the developers in the Noida Extension-GreaterNoida area had been lost forever. While farmers of nearly 63 villages have challenged the acquisition of3,000 hectares, over a hundred builders have their projects coming up in the area and lakhs ofhomebuyers have put in their hard-earned money. Investments worth Rs 16,000 crore are also at stake.Currently, development in the area seems to have come to a standstill with investors and homebuyersvary of putting in their money, while banks having stopped disbursing loans, but a ray of hope came froman assurance that within the next few months things would get stabilized. "We are hoping for somereprieve in the next 2-3 months when we expect matters to settle down and issues to get ironed out for allthe parties involved," said Balwindar Kumar, chairman and CEO of Noida Authority. "Both Noida andGreater Noida, and now the Yamuna Expressway, are evolving cities with world class infrastructure.Shifting land use from agriculture to industry is the established process of civilization and we cannotafford to ignore its importance," he said. With all eyes turned to the new land acquisition bill, participantsof the seminar conferred on the necessity of putting into place renewed policies whereby farmland couldbe acquired and converted at fair and equitable means besides the need to think town planning conceptsanew. "The farmer definitely needs to be compensated adequately for his land and we are making effortstowards the same," Kumar said. "We hope that the new land policy will address the shortcomings of theprevious Act and facilitate the real estate industry as well as benefit all stakeholders," he added. Whilemany homebuyers affected by the land crisis have adopted a wait-and-watch policy wondered about thefate of their homes, prospective investors and property pundits claimed that housing demand in the areahad declined considerably. "We are hoping for some reprieve from the high court," said Mohit Arora,director Supertech. On being quizzed whether the 'affordable housing dream' was shattered, Aroraanswered that it "would depend on the demand for housing and the land acquisition rates in thefuture".The conclave ended with suggestions for curing the land acquisition malaise permanently anddealing with the farmers' expectation, which seem to be growing by the day. Justice (Retd) RajeshTandon said, "There is a need for the government to act quickly to honour their agreements with the landholders." "An arbitrator can be appointed for settlement and fixing a fair price for land holdings to avoidthe current land crisis-like situations," said Satish Janmeda, an investor." (Times of India 3/10/11)