We very well know the story of Tata Nano Land Dispute. What was West Bengal’s loss though was Gujarat’s profit. Nano’s are now coming out of the state.
However, most of the projects are not as lucky as Nano to get a Land replacement. Did you know that 70% of total 190 projects that were supposed to be implemented have been stalled due to Land acquisition related disputes. The ECO Pulse study by ASSOCHAM has revealed this startling fact.
Most of these projects are basically International companies needing to set their shop in India.
For e.g: 22 major steel projects in the country worth USD 82 billion are being held up because of procedural delays in obtaining environmental impact assessment clearance and delays in land acquisition mainly due to public protests. One such project – Arcelor Mittal which nearly pulled out of building 2 steel plants that would pump close to USD 20 billion. The reason – They were unable to acquire land in Jharkhand and Orissa.
The study also revealed that, there are currently 18 strangled projects of India Inc to the tune of Rs.244,815.5 crore (Rs.2.45 trillion) remained on papers, in the form of memorandum of understanding (MoU) and agreements over the past three-four years.
If at all these projects had been implemented, it would have created Jobs for 164,000 people directly and 270,000 people indirectly !
Although, I do understand that it is important for farmers to safeguard their lands – But the compensation offerings are very much in line with Market & Real Estate conditions. I am not pointing here that Farmers should get a raw deal – Its their land, they have right to decide what to do with their lands.
What I do not understand here is why is government not intervening. This is a win-win situation. If Indian Government takes these projects seriously, I am sure there are plenty of solutions available to overcome these Land disputes.
What is your take?