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

Plea to bring Mullaperiyar dam under Centre's control (4)TIRUCHI, December 9, 2011: The Bharathiya Krishak Samaj has called upon the Centre to enact a lawunder Article 262 of the Constitution to bring the Mullaperiyar dam under its control. In a resolutionadopted at its emergency meeting, chaired by D.Gurusamy, state president, here on Thursday, theorganisation said Parliament could by law provide for the adjudication of any inter-state river disputeunder Article 262, and courts could not interfere with such Act of Parliament. The Centre should bring thedam and the sharing of water from the dam under its control in view of the “extreme position” taken by theKerala government, which posed a threat to national integration and democracy, the resolution said. Theorganisation also criticised the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission K.G.Balakrishnan fortaking up for hearing a petition from Kerala MPs on the issue even while the Supreme Court was seizedof the matter. The commission could not hear the matter when the issue was pending before theSupreme Court, the organisation contended, and accused Mr.Balakrishnan of misusing his position. Themeeting resolved to submit a petition to the President seeking action against Mr.Balakrishnan. Throughother resolutions, the organisation urged the Centre to revise the minimum support price for farm producetaking into account the increase in the cost of inputs, especially the fertilizer price hike which has put aburden on farmers. The MSP for sugarcane should be fixed at Rs.3,000 a tonne. For paddy, the MSPshould be increased to Rs.2,000 a quintal, it demanded. The organisation also demanded that labourersemployed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme be allowed to bedeployed in private farms for agriculture labour. (The Hindu 6/12/11)Jharkhand minister attends anti-dam tribal meeting (4)Jamshedpur/Chaibasa, Dec 7 : Tribal Welfare and Transport Minister Champai Soren participated in ameeting of local tribals held at Kuju village of West Singhbhum today to oppose the construction of IchaDam under multi-million rupee Subarnarekha project. Mr Soren, while expressing solidarity, said he wouldsee to it that the dam, which can displace thousands of villagers by submerging 123 villages (87 inJharkhand and 36 in Orissa), was not constructed. ''I don’t want displacement. I am in favour of liftirrigation. I had been a part of the anti-dam movement,'' he stressed. A large number of tribals, mostlyform their dominant Ho community, organised a traditional village assembly- ‘Marang Dunub’ to electthree Manakis (community heads) prior to this meeting. The newly-elected leaders vowed to continue tooppose the construction of the Dam. Chaibasa MLA Deepak Birua, Akhil Bhartiya Aadivasi Mahasabhaworking president K C Mardi and vice president Mukesh Birua also addressed the meeting. TheSubarnarekha multipurpose project envisaged the construction of two dams, one at Chandil across theSubarnarekha and the other across the Kharkai at Icha near Chaibasa and two barrages at Galudihacross the Subarnarekha and the other across the Kharkai at Ganjia near Adityapur and a network ofcanals from these. Three small storage reservoirs and a network of canals from these reservoirs are inOrissa. Started in 1982-83, the project was planned for irrigation, hydropower generation and watersupply to Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. While the Chandil dam and Galudih barrage are almostcomplete, the other components are still incomplete. (UNI) (New Kerala 8/12/11)3 more villages in Sonipat seek hike in land acquisition rate (4)SONIPAT: A few days after the government came up with revised compensation package to placatefarmers, who were opposing acquisition of land for Rajiv Gandhi Education City project, residents of threeneighbouring villages also launched an agitation demanding equal package for their land. Around 620acres land in Kundli, Kundli Garhi and Shersa villages was acquired by Haryana Industrial andInfrastructure Development Corporation ( HSIIDC) in 2007 for setting up industrial sector. Residents ofthese villages started an indefinite dharna at Kundli from Thursday in support of their demand. They havealso demanded market rates for their acquired land as well as other benefits being given under the newland acquisition policy of the state government. The Bhoomi Adhigrahan Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, whichwas spearheading the education city agitation, has also announced support to the agitation. The stategovernment had announced to revise compensation package for nine villages, where around 2,000 acresof land had been acquired for the education city project, obviously under pressure from farmers, who hadapproached the court for revision of land prices. The government announced a three-and-a-half foldincrease in the compensation package recently, increasing per acre rate from Rs 12. 60 lakh to Rs 45.15lakh. Convener of agitating farmers at Kundli, Raj Kumar, alleged that their land was acquired at Rs 16lakh per acre and was being sold to industrialists at Rs 2-3 crore per acre. "It was injustice to the farmersand they must also be given market rates and other benefits under the government's new land acquisition