Gujarat claims land deal for bullet train just an eyewash: Anand Yagni, Advocate

A day after the Gujarat government declared a 25 per cent increase in compensation for land to be acquired for the bullet train project, Gujarat Khedut Samaj, a statewide farmers outfit, refuted the claims made by revenue minister Kaushik Patel. 

In a release issued by advocate Anand Yagnik on behalf of the farmers’ body on Friday, the claims made by Patel have been declared as nothing, but an eyewash which is not going to benefit the farmers in any way.

Yagnik had pointed out that the state government had itself claimed that jantri rates for land should be revised by 8 per cent every year, but the government had not revised the same for the past seven years. 

The lawyer also claimed that the jantri rates should be revised till 2018 and the farmers should be provided four times of the revised amount. He has also made a mention of the CAG 2017 report which provides that even jantri rates are not reflecting the market rates of land. 

Yagnik has clarified that the affected farmers are entitled to get the right compensation and the government must provide that rather than trying to befool them.

The advocate also criticised the state government’s claim that out of the 196 villages involving 681 hectares of land spread across eight districts, land acquisition process has been completed in 85 villages. He has mentioned in the release that the government has just issued a preliminary notification to acquire land and out of the stretch of 398 km, survey work has been completed only for around 100 km stretch.

He has also pointed out that there is strong opposition against land acquisition for the mega project in districts of south Gujarat and agitated farmers are not even allowing allowing government officials to carry out the survey. 

The advocate has further claimed that the process of land acquisition is deemed complete only after the payments are made to the affected parties and the state government is still far away from achieving that.

AN EXPLOSION OF DESIRE

Anger of the farmers erupts after Gujarat govt said it’d raise the compensation

Gujarat has started spreading falsehood by saying that it has come up with a package enhan-cing the compensation and providing two-to-four times, based on where the land to be acquired is. The farmers are being harassed time and again.Anand Yagni, Advocate

WHAT THE FARMING CLASS THINKS

• Yagnik pointed out that the state government had itself claimed that jantri rates for land should be revised by 8 per cent every year.  
• Yagnik claimed jantri rates should be revised till 2018 and farmers should get 4 the times revised amount.  
• He also criticised the state government’s claim that out of the 196 villages involving 681 hectares of land spread across eight districts.