Farmers of Nindar suspended their agitation on Friday to demand a fair compensation for their land bought for a housing project. The Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has assured them of a solution.
The JDA has acquired 1,350 ‘bighas’ of land at Nindar, near the city, in several phases since 2010 for a plush housing project, though the owners refused compensation pegged at the 2010 rates. They alleged that the JDA’s survey was faulty, and the compensation was below the market rate.
The Nindar Bachao Yuva Kisan Sangharsh Samiti has launched the ‘Zameen Samadhi Satyagraha’, under which the protesters dug pits and trenches and buried themselves chest-deep. It has demanded that the government give compensation as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, which came into force on January 1, 2014. “Applying the 2010 District Lease Committee rates in 2020 is unfair,” Samiti convener Nagendra Singh Shekhawat said.
Mahesh Joshi, the government chief whip in the Assembly, visited the site of agitation on Friday and assured the farmers of “sympathetic consideration” of their demand. Mr. Shekhawat said the Satyagraha site would be protected during negotiations with the ,JDA, and the agitation would be revived if a satisfactory solution was not offered.
The farmers first resorted to this unique form of protest in 2017 when the JDA started getting possession of the land. The agitation generated immense public sympathy and forced the then BJP government to hold talks with the farmers.
The JDA has taken possession of 600 ‘bighas’ so far and deposited ₹60 crore in court for compensation after the villagers refused to accept the sum. It has also offered to allot the plots of developed land to the farmers in lieu of the land they have surrendered.
The JDA’s project at Nindar has been touted as its biggest scheme with 6,000 houses and residential plots. It has been insisting on possession of the entire 1,350 ‘bighas’, including 150 ‘bighas’ of mandir mafi land (exempted for temples), where houses have been built and the villagers live.
Land acquisition in the State is governed by a policy framed in April 2016 under the 2014 Act. Its emphasis is on negotiations with landowners and reaching consensus on compensation and rehabilitation based on the existing market value.
