Bol village (Sanand), Gujarat

Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation?s industrial estate for Nano plant

Where the compensation was double the market rate

Syed Khalique Ahmed

Kalubhai Vankar, a Dalit farmer in Bol village near Ahmedabad, had imagined many things but becoming a millionaire was not one of them. The unimaginable happened when Tata?a Nano plant, driven out of Singur in West Bengal, drove straight into his neighbourhood in 2008. The Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) then began acquiring land for setting up an industrial estate near the Nano plant for auxillary units.

Though there was initial opposition from farmers to the project, GIDC reached out to them by offering compensation for their land that was much more than the market rate. It was an offer that farmers like Vankar could not refuse. His 15 bigha land, which falls in a non-irrigated area, hardly yielded enough to feed his family and so he was only too happy to sell it. The GIDC paid him Rs 28.5 lakh for each bigha and he walked away with Rs 4.3 crore. He now plans to invest a part of his compensation money to buy agricultural land elsewhere in the state. Just two years ago, a bigha in Sanand fetched anything between Rs 2 and Rs 3 lakh. With news of the Tatas shifting their plant to Sanand, land prices jumped to Rs 10 lakh. Then came the GIDC which more than doubled the rates.

In all, the state is giving out Rs 950 crore as compensation to farmers from Bol village alone. The village has about 500 families and a population of over 2,000, most of whom belong to the Rajput, Bharwads (cattle breeder), Koli-Patel and Dalit communities. While Rs 500 crore has already been deposited into the accounts of the farmers, the remaining amount is in the process of being transferred.

According to 85-year-old Bhikhabhai Barad, a former sarpanch of the village, almost 90% of the families in the village have benefited from the project.

The villagers are going easy?and wise?with their new found wealth. Most are buying agricultural land in other villages and of course, some of it is being used to buy new cars and houses.

Meanwhile, Bol?s new riches have got insurance agencies flocking to the village. Till a year ago, only four banks had branches at Sanand. Now, half-a-dozen more have moved in.

Kanersar, Maharashtra

Bharat Forge-Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation Special Economic Zone

Rs 17 lakh per hectare, a buy back policy and a job

Nisha Nambiar

Ten-year-old Monica and 11-year-old Ashwini talk in Marathi with a smattering of English. Two years ago, they knew just one sentence in English, now their vocabulary has expanded considerably ever since they started going to a school that teaches both in English and Marathi. And it?s not just them?their entire family is slowly getting used to a new way of life.

Their father, Mohan Daundkar, who is the principal village official of Kanersar, a village 60 km from Pune, gave up his arid barren land three years ago for the Bharat Forge-Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a 76:24 JV between Bharat Forge and MIDC spanning over 7,192 hectares across 17 villages. With the first phase of acquisition and rehabilitation over for four villages Nimgaon, Dhavadi, Kendur and Kanersar in the last three years, the revenue officials are working towards the second and third phases.

Today, Mohan travels in a Chevrolet Tavera, has rebuilt his house, owns two trucks and makes nearly Rs 1.5 lakh every month. ?I am happy that I gave up our land for the project,? says Mohan, pointing to the green hilly terrain behind his house where his land was located. Initially though, he had his reservations and had opposed the project but once he was convinced that it was just his arid and barren land that would be taken for the project and that he would get a compensation of Rs 17 lakh per hectare, he persuaded his father and uncle to part with 62.5 acres of their land.

Daundkar?s father Dagdu Daundkar and uncle Rangnath Daundkar?the owners of the land?agreed and the family got Rs 4.25 crore.

They also went in for the buy back policy that the MIDC was offering. Under the policy, you can buy back up to 15% of the land that you sold once the SEZ is developed at the cost of 50% of the going rate.

?We as a family got Rs 3.61 crore which was divided among five families in our extended family with each person getting about Rs 72 lakh each,?? says Patil.

Once they got the money, Mohan Daundkar and his father Dagdu opened a bank account with the State Bank of India in the village?their first account. ?Besides investing Rs 30 lakh for running a transport business, the rest was spent in buying some tracts of land a little farther away from the village,??he says.

As part of its rehabilitation policy, the MIDC is also offering employment to one member from each family. ?Some members of our family are educated till Class X and XII and with some training in polytechnic they can work in the company,?? says Mohan Daundkar.