Congress acquired land, compensated farmer Dharma Patil who committed suicide

A day after the death of Maharashtra farmer Dharma Patil, it has emerged that his land was actually acquired under the Congress government, for the construction of a thermal power plant.

The 84-year-old farmer from the Dhule district drank rat poison at Mantralaya last week, protesting against the alleged lesser compensation paid by the government for his land.

According to the data received from official sources in the Maharashtra Government, the first proposal for acquiring his farm was done on May 8, 2009 when the Congress party was in power in the state.

The records further reveal that it was under Congress government in September 2011 that his land measurement was done.

Nine months later, the first notification was issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, while final inspection of the land was done in October of the same year.

The last notification was issued on February 26, 2014.

Nearly seven months before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in the state, the objections and hearing on the land was done in April 2014, and the compensation was duly accepted by Patil.

His family, thus, did not take the legal recourse over the land compensation amount.

According to the Land Acquisition Act, the government cannot make any changes in the compensation amount if the process is completed and the compensation is received by the affected person(s).

Official sources at Maharashtra Mantralay deny the claims that the deceased farmer's neighbouring plots were compensated in crores of rupees.

The data reveals that two neighbouring plots were awarded Rs 4,34,720 and Rs 4,40,440 respectively.