Hike compensation of affected farmers in MP rail project: Cong

Congress MLA Jaivardhan Singh here today demanded enhanced compensation for farmers of Sailana tehsil's Shivgarh area in Ratlam district whose land is being acquired for laying Dungarpur-Ratlam railway line, at par with what has been paid in Rajasthan.
The farmers are enraged as they were being paid less compensation for the land in Madhya Pradesh as compared to their counterparts in Rajasthan, claimed Singh, MLA from Raghogarh.
"It is unfortunate that injustice has been done with the farmers of the state while in neighbouring Rajasthan their counterparts were getting four times more compensation for the same project, Dungarpur-Ratlam railway line," he said via a Calling Attention motion in the MP Assembly here.

Replying to the matter, state Revenue Minister Rampal Singh said that for the railways project, 201.31 hectare land of 494 farmers has been acquired and as per the Centre's Land Acquisition Act of 2013, they were paid twice more than the market rate for the above land.
A total of Rs 23.8 crore was disbursed as compensation, he added.
For laying the railway line, 60-metre-wide land is being acquired on the route and only that much land is being taken from farmers. In the rest of the land they are continuing with their agricultural activities and there is no discontent among them on the issue, the minister said.

However, dissatisfied with the minister's reply, Singh said the land belongs to tribals and since they were unable to sell it, its market rate is lower than the prevailing rates.
He referred to neighbouring state's Banswara district Collector's order stating that farmers there got four times more compensation than those in Madhya Pradesh.
At this point Assembly's Deputy Speaker, Rajendra Singh who was on the Chair said that because of difference in compensation, farmers in Madhya Pradesh are bound to get upset and therefore, the state government should take note of it and if possible amend the laws suitably to pay enhanced compensation to them, to which the Revenue Minister has agreed to abide by his direction.