Gujarat Congress does a Mamata

Demands compensation to farmers for land allotted to Tata's Nano project

The land disputes seem to haunt Tata Motors. Now, the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has demanded that the state government should compensate the farmers for the 1,100 acre land of Anand Agricultural University (AAU) near Sanand allotted to Tata Motors for its Nano project. 

According to GPCC, around 2,251 acre of land was leased by the then Mumbai British Governor Northkote for 99 years from the farmers for setting up the Cattle Preservation Society in 1902.

"While the lease got over in 2001, the land was not handed to the farmers in spite of several claims made to the district collector and other authorities. Moreover, the farmers are fighting a legal case to regain the land custody. On behalf of the farmers, we demand that the Gujarat government should compensate them appropriately for the land that has been allotted to Tata Motors," said Arjun Modhvadia, chief spokesperson for GPCC.
 
Modhvadia alleged that 1,100 acre of the land which is worth Rs 1,000 crore at current market prices has been allotted to Tata Motors for the Rs 1,500 crore project at throwaway prices. "The farmers should ideally receive their land back but since everyone wants such a good project to come to Gujarat for the state's development, the government should at least compensate the real owners," he said.

 

Moreover, drawing a comparison with Maruti and General Motors, Modhvadia alleged, "Unlike Maruti and GM which acquired a mere 600 acre and 90 acre to manufacture seven lakh cars and one lakh cars a year respectively, Tata Motors is eyeing 1,100 acre huge land for manufactuing just one lakh cars.  This itself indicates that more than the Nano project, Tata Motors is interested in acquiring prime land in Gujarat."