Venugopal Dhoot, promoter of Videocon, must be busy calculating how much more he may need to cough up to buy land for his proposed multi-product SEZ on the outskirts of Pune.
The agriculture minister himself had identified the land near Pune
MUMBAI: Venugopal Dhoot, promoter of Videocon, must be busy calculating how much more he may need to cough up to buy land for his proposed multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) on the outskirts of Pune. Whatever be his calculations, he has the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to thank for it.
Records at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) clearly show that it was Pawar who had identified and suggested the land around Wagholi, Lonikand, Kesnand and Bakori for ‘industrial development’ around Pune city. The proposal for land acquisition clearly mentions that the same had been prepared in accordance with ‘suggestion and instructions’ from Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. A very senior official from MIDC confirmed this.
If Pawar was the one who made the suggestion to develop this land, why should he now initiate a process to stall land acquisition citing ‘farmers’ protests’ as the reason? Political observers see higher land prices as the motive.
Land prices in and around these villages – which fall under Pawar’s area of influence - have shot up, an observer points out.
Sources close to Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh also support this view. “He (Pawar) is known for bending rules as per his convenience. However, this time, he has set an extremely bad precedent. If we scrap, shift or make any change in the area identified for Videocon’s proposed SEZ following a protest by farmers, then farmers from other areas of the state, whose land is being acquired, will also resort to protests. Big protests will stall all big projects in the state, be it SEZs or any other project.” Pawar himself was unavailable for comment.
More intense and violent protests against land acquisition for SEZs and other industrial projects have been witnessed in Hinjewadi in Pune district, Pen and Panvel in Raigad district and Shivangaon in Nagpur district, but till date the government has not bowed to the demands of agitating crowds. In Hinjewadi, the situation was so serious that the police had to open fire, but the government preferred not to stall the process of land acquisition.
“Sharad Pawar, Vilasrao Deshmukh, industry minister Ashok Chavan, Venugopal Dhoot and other top industries department officials, including department secretary VK Jairath, and MIDC chief Rajiv Jalota will be meeting next week to discuss the future course of action over the matter of land acquisition in these four villages,” informed sources close to the chief minister told #DNA.
“What we expect is simple. Pawar will ask MIDC to withdraw its land acquisition process and ask Dhoot to acquire property directly from the farmers through negotiations. This means Dhoot will have to pay market prices for the land, which will be four times what the MIDC would have asked for or paid to the farmers,” highly placed sources in the industries department said.
When asked whether this means the SEZ will not be shifted but may merely cost more to the Videocon group, this officer said, “There you are. That is what is going to happen.”
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