GKS leaders to meet JICA representatives today

Surat: Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS) leaders will be meeting representatives of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), funding agency for Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed train project, during their two-day visit to Surat and Navsari districts from Friday.
GKS had written to JICA regarding violation of land acquisition rules by Maharashtra and Gujarat governments for the high-speed train project. Following the complaint, JICA sent its delegation to carry out talks with farmers affected by the land acquisition drive and also to meet GKS leaders on the issue.

GKS president Jayesh Patel said, “We had written to JICA about the violation of land acquisition rules for the high-speed train project in south Gujarat. The JICA immediately responded to our letter by sending its representatives to take stock of the situation. We will be meeting JICA members in Surat and Navsari and that they will also talk to affected farmers.” In the letter, GKS had requested the agency not to release funds to the Government to India as the guidelines of JICA were not followed in the land acquisition process.

Patel said the farmer group has also filed a petition in Gujarat high court against land acquisition.

Recently, Gujarat Government had announced that farmers having their land in the limits of urban development authorities would be getting four times the market rate like their rural counterparts for the acquisition of land for the high-speed train project. The process to acquire over 650 hectares of land in eight districts of the state is in full swing.

Patel said, “The high-speed train project will require more than 1,400 hectares of land in Gujarat and Maharashtra, out of which majority of the land is privately owned. In the entire process, about 6,000 land owners will have to be compensated. The government is not following land acquisition rules and the farmers are at a huge loss. Most of mango and chickoo farmers in Surat, Navsari and Valsad have been affected by this project.”