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

Calcutta, Oct. 31: Tata Motors today filed an appeal before a division bench of Calcutta High Courtchallenging the verdict by Justice I.P. Mukerji, of the same court, that upheld the validity of the Singurland act. The company also sought an interim stay on the verdict and the continuation of the SupremeCourt’s interim directive restraining distribution of plots among “unwilling” farmers in Singur. The originalrestraint was to hold till the trial bench of Mukerji disposed of the case. On September 28, Mukerji hadpassed a judgment upholding the validity of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011,which the government had brought in to take back the land given to the Tatas for the Nano factory. Thedivision bench of Justices K.J. Sengupta and Jaymalya Bagchi will hear the appeal from tomorrow. TheTatas moved the appeal today as Justice Mukerji had stayed the implementation of his order tillNovember 2. The court opened today after a month-long Puja vacation. “You come to our court tomorrowafter completing the departmental procedures and serving copies on the respondents. We will hear yourapplication tomorrow,” Justice Sengupta told Tata counsel Samaraditya Pal. (The Telegraph 1/11/11)Pattas for Saranda villagers by month-end (4)New Delhi, Oct. 31: Jharkhand and the Centre today gave final shape to a plan that aims to improve thelives of 36,000 people living in Saranda forest. At a high-level meeting in Union rural developmentminister Jairam Ramesh’s office, chief minister Arjun Munda discussed a time-bound strategy toimplement the Saranda Action Plan. Ramesh said by November 10, Jharkhand would start appointingrozgar sevaks (employment facilitators) for each of the 56 villages in the area. “By November-end, thestate will start giving pattas according to the forest act. Seven thousand families will also be providedhomes under Indira Awaas Yojana,” he said. A controversial yet critical plan for the area is theconstruction of 70km-long cement-concrete road. The route will connect Kiriburu, Karampada, Thalkobad,Tiriliposi, Digha and Bhanuletha. “We’ve asked Jharkhand to prepare a brief detailed project report byend November. The state can get it done through the forest department and there will be no need fortenders,” said Ramesh. Sources in the ministry revealed that Border Roads Organisation, Border SecurityForce and the CRPF were approached to build the road, but they all declined. The ministry of new andrenewable energy will provide solar lanterns for the families in the area and the state government hasalready floated tenders for bicycles to be distributed free to the locals. Transistor sets will also bedistributed and all the costs will be met through the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for backward Naxalite-hitdistricts. Steel Authority of India Limited, which has large open cast mines in Chiria, will also be involved.“This psychological war against the Maoists will succeed through rural development,” Ramesh claimed.Today’s meeting was also attended by CRPF director-general K. Vijay Kumar, rural developmentsecretary B.K. Sinha and home ministry officials. Munda and Ramesh will tour Saranda in December,which they said would also put pressure on officials to perform. Meanwhile, Munda requested Ramesh tolobby for special provisions for forest dwellers in the cabinet. “There are 3,000 villages in Jharkhandwhich can only be approached through forests. For any development effort there, roads must be builtthrough forests for which we need relaxation of forest laws,” Munda said. He also sought a roadmap forlocal participation. A source present at the meeting hinted at the setting up of a vigilante wing in Saranda,which would be integrated with the police force. “Trained by the CRPF, the Pahariya Battalion willcomprise tribal villagers and will be a part of the regular Jharkhand Armed Police,” said the source.(Telegraph 1/11/11)Farmers seek draft of acquisition bill (4)SONIPAT: A delegation of farmers from Badkhalsa village of Sonipat district on Wednesday asked thechairperson of parliament's standing committee, Sumitra Mahajan, to draft the land acquisition bill. BJPMLA from Sonipat, Kavita Jain who led the delegation, handed over a memorandum to the chairpersonurging her to incorporate provisions of farmers' welfare in the draft. Their primary demands include:provisions for moving the court against land acquisition, giving representation to a farmers' representativein the acquisition committee, acquisition only in public interest, release of the acquired land if not utilized,and reservations in government services for three generations of the affected farmers. Kavita Jain allegedthat Haryana government was not releasing even a little of the acquired land on the demand made byfarmers, though it had released around 10,000 acres in favour of builders during the past seven years.The land belonging to farmers of Badkhalsa village was acquired in 2006, but the landowners have notaccepted the award money yet. They had been on an indefinite dharna from the past 95 days under thebanner - Bhoomi Adhigrahan Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti. (Times of India 3/11/11)