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ROLE MODEL RAJARHATBy Mrs Gupta, Section Development
If the Left government slipped on Singur, its New Town project presents an ideal acquisition plan. Not only were the Rajarhat land-losers offered a fair price, they were imparted various vocational training as well. Suman Chakraborti reports
It simply beats ones imagination. How could the Left government mess up at Singur when they acquired land so smoothly for New Town? Given the Rajarhat project started much before the Tatas planned their car factory, the government should have made all the right moves this time around too. Controversy over land acquisition for the Tata factory at Singur refuses to end. So, is there a secret behind the peaceful acquisition process at Rajarhat? Not really. For one, land on which New Town is being built was never fertile, unlike some of the plots that are to make way for the small-car factory. This fact alone didn't prevent another controversy from brewing over Rajarhat, though. Some well-thought-out measures, aimed at helping those who gave up their land, were taken up by the Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) entrusted with developing New Town on a 3779 hectare area before it went about acquiring land. Hidco is now working in full swing to acquire and develop the four divisions of New Town referred to as Action Areas along with its central business district. Work on acquiring 660 hectares of land for Action Area-I is complete. So is work on developing infrastructure in this area. Work is in full swing in Action Area-II, comprising 1050 hectares, and Action Area III, spread over 1365 hectares. Work has not begun in the 700 hectare Action Area IV. To avoid disputes, Hidco begins acquiring land in any Action Area only after forming land acquisition committees comprising representatives of different political parties.
To expedite procurement and involve local people, Hidco procured land directly from owners to ensure proper compensation. "We had formed a land procurement committee, comprising representatives of different political parties, to fix prices according to market rates. We have already paid Rs 450 crore as compensation to farmers and another Rs 250 crore will be paid," said housing minister and Hidco chairman Gautam Deb.
Besides, Hidco has formed a land-losers' cooperative. "We are not merely compensating land losers. We are also working on a resettlement project to provide dwelling units or alternative land at subsidised rates to those who are handing over their land to us," said Deb. Hidco has so far identified around 560 beneficiaries. The authorities have, so far, provided dwelling units to 56 families and alternative land to 15 families. "The rest will be settled in due course," said a Hidco official. Deb said Hidco has a policy to train landlosers in different vocations to enable them find employment. "The skills acquired from training imparted by Hidco enables land-losers find jobs on various projects for setting up the township," said Deb. About 2,311 land-losers are being imparted training in different trades. Hidco has facilitated registration of 45 cooperative societies who have been entrusted with various projects. The cost of these projects together amount to Rs 8 crore. "We will have to increase the amount," Deb said. Around 5% of land in New Town has been reserved for land-losers. The authorities are also working on rehabilitating a good number of refugees occupying different places on the banks of the Bagjola Canal. Besides, Hidco has also taken up work on developing areas neighbouring Rajarhat to minimise the gap between their residents and those of the township that is coming up. "We have constituted a `neighbourhood development panel with a financial involvement of Rs 72 crore to execute various projects," Deb said. Source- The Times Of India, Dated, December-29,2006
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