Karnal farmers allege foul play in land acquisition

KARNAL: Though the Karnal district administration has claimed that farmers have assented to acquisition of their land for expansion of the Karnal airstrip, some farmers have accused the government of using foul play to acquire their land at lower rates.

The farmers also alleged lack of transparency in the acquisition and formula adopted to finalise the compensation.

One such disgruntled famer, Inderjit Singh of Kulwehri village, who has been approached for 21 kanals and 8 marlas of land, said, “The Karnal sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) invited us to attend a videoconference with the chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Though we waited for hours, Khattar only spoke to farmers who were willing to sell their land and did not hear us out.”

Joginder Singh, whose 8-acre land has been included in the project and 50 acres was acquired when the airstrip was constructed in 1963, said, “In a bid to get the land at nominal rates, the government is processing the acquisition under the voluntarily acquisition policy instead of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement

Act, 2013.”Karnal deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said land near the road will be acquired for ₹87.25 lakh per acre, while land at a distance of more than 2km from the road will fetch a compensation of ₹82.25 lakh per acre.

“As per Clause 3 of the Haryana Consolidation of Project Land (Special Provisions) Act, 2017, where the state government owns or has purchased 70% or more of the total land required for a project in a particular area (in this case more than 80%), the state government will consolidate the total project land from nearby pockets of private land to ensure the viability of such a project,” Yadav said, refuting allegations of foul play.

Farmers have alleged that the government did not consider collector rates for the acquisition as the rates for surrounding villages were very high and most area in Kulwehri villages were within a controlled area according to the master plan. The collector rate of this area has not been revised for the past couple of years.

The proposed land for this project is 172 acres, 3 kanals and 16 marlas, of which 106 acres, 6 kanals and 14 marlas belong to the government of Haryana while the remaining 66 acres are being acquired from 24 landowners. As per officials, landowners have voluntarily agreed provide their land (38 acres and five marlas) by uploading their consent on Haryana government’s e-bhoomi portal after a virtual interaction with the chief minister. The remaining 27 acres are registered in the name of family members of two prominent farmers who are unwilling to sell their land at the rate offered.

“To forcibly acquire our land at lower rates, the government is showing 106 acres of existing airstrip to take the percentage of land with them to over 70%. The government cannot force a farmer to give up his land if it has acquired land from other farmers in the neighborhood”, said Bhawneet Singh, a farmer.

The expansion of the Karnal airstrip has been hanging fire since 2012, as most farmers from surrounding villages were unwilling to sell their land for the project.

In May 2018, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation had issued a notification through the e-bhoomi portal stating a requirement of 280 acres to expand the Karnal Aviation Club but in October 2018 another proposal for 23 acres was made for the extension of the air strip.