PITHORA: Massive land acquisition and indiscriminate tree felling for four-laning of National Highway-53 (NH-53) has sparked unrest among the locals, who are now up in arms against the state government.
More than 55,000 trees are being cut on the stretch of 115 Kms from Aarang to Saraipali, not only affecting those in possession of the land and trees but also the environment as a whole. "Large number of farmers is losing their lands for compensation less than the market value or even the actual value of the land. Chopping down trees in large numbers, despite the state facing a lot of pollution related problems due to industrialisation, is going to be serious concern in the coming years," locals told TOI.
Though the affected farmers and people would get compensation from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) but their grievances are now taking a shape of protest with even more complaints. A group of farmers and others have formed a committee and submitted a memorandum to State Governor Shekhar Dutt, Chief Minister Raman Singh. They are also contemplating to take up the issue with Prime Minister.
"NHAI and the State Environment Conservation Board are supposed to issue the EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) report to all the related departments including Public Works Department, Municipal Corporation, District, block and tehsil officers and also the Sarpanch of all the blocks. Being a Sarpanch, I have not yet received any copy of the assessment report while as part of the process, a copy of EIA is supposed to be produced to the Sarpanch," said Vinod Sinha, sarpanch, Pithora.
As per the norms, EIA reports are supposed to be issued to the sarpanch before organizing the public hearing for ascertaining concerns of local and affected people, but they alleged that the hearing was done in a hush-hush manner in the month of September, 2012 without issuing EIA and without taking the locals into confidence.
Meanwhile forest officials in Pithora said the farmers and affected people were being compensated depending upon the size of the trees and land. However, they refused to divulge the details of the compensation being given for land and trees.
Farmers, however, told TOI that though the officials claim that centre's guidelines are being followed, the scenario shows that the farmers are being paid even less than the actual value of the land as fixed by the Mahasamund district administration for the purpose of registration of land deeds.
"My land of 1.5 acres, which is an irrigated agricultural land with grown up trees, has been put on stake due to NH -53. As per the Mahasamund registry rate 2012, each acre of my land costs not less than Rs 6.3 lakh, which would provide me not less than Rs 10 lakh if considered the market value. But the amount calculated by the government comes down to a paltry Rs 5 lakh! This mere amount won't let me buy even a small piece of land according to the market value," HD Ghosh, a farmer in Pithora said.
More than 600 farmers are being affected with four-laning work of NH-53. "The rate of the land located on the right and left side of the road differs with thousands of rupees, per square metre. The farmers are not even aware of the rate, which the government has fixed for their lands," the agitating locals alleged adding that the NHA directly issuing the cheques to the farmers without having any consultation. The rate of the land has increased to 30 per cent in a year but the farmers are not even getting the actual value of the land being evacuated by the government.
Talking to TOI, Gautam Bandhopadhyay, convenor National Highway Affected Farmers and Citizens Committee, said, "Central and state government has been violating the rules of EIA Act and NHAI Act due to which thousands of farmers and citizens have been displaced without allotment of compensation and settlement. Implementation of proper rehabilitation policy is needed for the affected people."
Despite repeated efforts, Mahasamund district collector R Shangeetha could not be reached for comments.
Chhattisgarh land acquisition, large-scale tree felling for NH four-laning sparks row
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