Fresh deal to end NTPC land row

Ranchi, Aug. 16: Chief minister Raghubar Das today expressed his willingness to go to Barkagaon, Hazaribagh, in some 10 days or so to declare a new land compensation package after a meeting with over 200 villagers and key stakeholders to end the acquisition deadlock around the three upcoming National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) coal mining projects amid growing politicised protests.

For three hours this afternoon, chief minister Das, along with former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, his son and Union minister and Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha and Hazaribagh MLA Manish Jaiswal, all from the BJP, and Barkagaon MLA Nirmala Devi, from the Congress, top bureaucrats as well as landowners spoke on what could be an amicable compensation package.

It is learnt that villagers wanted a five-fold compensation hike per acre from the existing Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1 crore, a job for a member of each displaced family, pension for each family, residential/caste certificates in advance so that they do not face problems in getting compensation after they part with their and, and their plots are returned to them in arable form after 30 years or whenever the mining project ends, depending on whichever is earlier. Complaining about the poor quality of rehabilitation colonies, they also wanted cash to build homes.

The state promised villagers to go through their demands seriously, holds talks with NTPC and within another 10 days or so visit Barkagaon to declare the new compensation packages, if everything goes well.

"We are serious about resolving the issue," the chief minister stressed more than once at the meeting here, his determination reflecting that his government did not want an industrial pullout from a state beleaguered by land acquisition problems but which was now aggressively being branded as an investor-friendly destination.

"Our government takes decisions keeping people at the centre and after detailed discussion. What we do will be good for you," he told villagers, many of whom spoke or gave written memorandums on their compensation expectations.

On complaints of a poorly executed resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) colony at Barkagaon, Das ordered immediate cessation of work and third-party quality inspection.

On the villagers' demand that their land be acquired in accordance with The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (also Land Acquisition Act, 2013), the state impressed upon them that Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957, had been invoked since NTPC's was a coal mining project.

NTPC is developing three captive coal mining projects, Pankri Barwadih, Chatti Bariatu and Keredari, spread over Barkagaon and Keredari blocks of Hazaribagh. Of the three, Pankri Barwadih is the largest with 8,000 acres acquired for it. Twenty-eight villages are affected by the three projects.

On May 17, NTPC started mining operations at Chirudih Barwadih, a part of the Pankri Barwadih mining project, one of the three such operations in Barkagaon, which was opposed by a gathering of over 500 people who demanded the thermal power major stop work till it gives higher compensation for their land. Police resorted to lathicharge to control the mob after which protesters alleged over three dozen men and women were injured.

Opposition leaders, including JVM chief Babulal Marandi, as well as others from JMM, RJD and Congress are supporting the agitation, citing NTPC's unfair compensation to landowners and police atrocities against protesters. But the chief minister has made it clear that his government would not tolerate goondagardi (hooliganism) in the name of politics.

After the meeting, Yashwant Sinha said the chief minister and his team understood the people's demands. "The CM has promised to hold a meeting with senior NTPC officials soon. Villagers are ready to part with their land provided their demands are met," he said. #Union minister Jayant said they were here to ensure justice for raiyats. "Today, the CM chaired the meeting in a most transparent manner. There were many good suggestions. I feel the government will reach a consensus on the compensation package soon," he said.

But, Barkagaon Congress MLA Nirmala Devi, who along with her husband Yogendra Sao, former Congress MLA and minister, had been active in uniting raiyats against the NTPC project, said mere announcements would not work. "Raiyats would be satisfied only if something happens for real," Devi said after the meeting.

Villagers, who spoke to this correspondent on the sidelines of the meeting, said they were now hopeful of results. Kameshwar Saw, a Barkagaon villager, said Rs 20 lakh an acre was low compared to multi-crop land they were asked to give up. "Our fields yield paddy, sugarcane, wheat, vegetables, among others," he said.