Legal cases mount against new project

Meanwhile in Gujarat, December 10 is the day to hear over 50 petitions filed by farmers against the proposed acquisition of their land for the bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

One of the major reasons for farmers to move the court is the poor compensation being offered by the authorities for land acquisition.

Farmers have vehemently argued before the court that they are being offered compensation as per the jantri rates of 2011. Jantri rates are government approved rates for sale and purchase of land in an area and have not been revised by the state government since 2011.

The petitioners have also argued that the state has amended the law related to the land acquisition, which is in contravention to the Union government's Land Acquisition Act 2013 and defeats the latter's purpose. They have also contended that no social impact assessment, as mandated under the central Act, has been carried out.

Another major submission of the agitating farmers is that the bullet train project involves Maharashtra, Gujarat, and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Therefore, the Union government is the appropriate authority to initiate the land acquisition proceedings and not the state governments.

Anand Yagnik, the advocate for farmers in Gujarat, says, "We want that the processes, as mandated under the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, should be followed for acquiring the land. Land should be acquired only after revising the jantri rates and the farmers should get fair compensation."

The lawyer for the petitioners said that the JICA officials will be coming to India next week and will be apprised about the violation of the agreement norms between India and Japan.

The commissioner for land reforms in Gujarat government, Hareet Shukla said, "Almost 80 per cent farmers have agreed to let the revenue department to conduct measurement of the land for the project and that means they do not have any objection against the acquisition. It is possible that they may not agree on the amount of compensation but we will be ready to accept their demands. The process of measurement of land also will take six months and the entire land acquisition process will be done gradually and one after another. It is not possible to do it in a limited period of time."

Gujarat Khedut Samaj had, in May this year, wrote a letter to Japan Investment Cooperation Agency (JICA), suggesting that it should not enable funding to Bullet Train project as it violates the guidelines by the Japanese government for overseas investment.

MORE CHALLENGES AHEAD

• One petition has been filed by Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd, which has challenged the proposed acquisition of its property in Vikhroli for the Bullet Train corridor 
   
• Another petition has been filed by a private developer, Atlanta Limited, which is building three residential towers of 20 floors each, in Thane district

POINTS RAISED BY GUJARAT KHEDUT SAMAJ

1. Human rights, livelihood, environment and indigenous people at a risk.
    
2. Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), consent, as well as rehabilitation and resettlement are done away with. Gujarat government’s EIA is an eye-wash.
    
3. Farmers not consulted. Meeting, under the guise of consultation, is only to inform farmers about what is going to happen. There is no participatory decision-making.
    
4. In Vadodara, notice to affected people was given in newspapers just one day before the consultation. For the affected people living in Bharuch, notice was published in Vadodara edition of newspapers.
    
5. The project passes through a notified area where indigenous people live. However, no one has consulted or even informed them about the project, forget about prior consent as mandatory in the guidelines.
    
6. Tribals (indigenous) people have special powers to take their own decisions. They refused to get the lands surveyed. But to facilitate this project, the rules were amended and a new notification was issued by the Maharashtra government to pave way for the project without consulting or obtaining the consent of the tribals.
    
7. The fisherfolk are neither consulted nor taken into confidence. The pollution will ruin their livelihood but nothing has been promised to them about compensation.
    
8. Alternative routes not been explored, or not presented to the people.
    
9. Central and state governments not allowing farmers to hold protests, public meetings or demonstrations.
   In Mumbai, too, there are legal hurdles with regards to land acquisition. Three petitions are pending in the Bombay High Court, which are most likely to be heard in due course of time, challenging the land acquisition for the project, on different counts.