No exemptions for PM’S bullet train project: Guv
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has rejected the state government’s request to provide exemptions sought from mandatory approvals from eight gram sabhas to acquire grazing land in Palghar district for the bullet train project, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The land parcels covering eight villages fall in the alignment of the project and are regulated under the Panchayats (Extension of Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act. It means prior acquisitions need approvals from the concerned gram sabhas. The state revenue department had requested the Governor to add a provision in PESA Act that vital projects of the government such as bullet train etc. be exempted from the process, but the proposal was not approved by the Governor, the officials confirmed.
The exemption from the Governor was sought on March 6, 2019, following a request made by the National High-speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) to speed up the acquisition process. “The proposal was not approved by the Governor. Now, meetings of the gram sabhas have been scheduled for the same to complete the process. I was told meetings of some gram sabhas were scheduled on August 15 and the proposal may have been discussed there,” said Nitin Kareer, additional chief secretary, revenue department.
“It also means land acquisition for the project will start only after completing the entire process. The idea behind asking for exemption was to expedite the project but the delay has defeated the purpose,” said a revenue official, wishing not to be named.
Santosh Kumar, secretary to the Governor, did not respond to calls and text messages.
“The proposal was discussed in a meeting held on October 22, 2019, in which, the governor said he is not in favour of giving exemption and also suggested the state government give compensatory land to the gram sabhas against the acquisition of grazing land. This is because grazing land is very important for the villages. People living in scheduled areas are too poor and their livelihood depends upon grazing land. If there is no land available then they should be compensated as per norms. The governor also suggested checking with the Gujarat government how they resolved issues related to PESA areas, in case alignment, is passing through such areas,” said a senior official.
As per section 22A of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code (MLRC) 1966, a gram sabha is a competent authority to preserve and safeguard the grazing land and it cannot be diverted prior consent of the concerned gram sabha. The provision to this effect was made by the then governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao by issuing a notification on May 9, 2017.
“Notwithstanding anything in sub-section (1) to (6) or any other provision of this Act, gram sabhas shall be competent to preserve, safeguard and manage Gairan land in Scheduled Areas; provided that, no Gairan land in the Scheduled Areas shall be diverted or disposed of without the prior informed consent of the Gram Sabhas concerned,” states the provision.
The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution empowers the governor to make regulations related to scheduled areas. Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) or PESA is a law enacted by the Government of India to cover the “Scheduled areas”, which are not covered in the 73rd amendment of Panchayati Raj Act of the Indian Constitution.
“Exercising the powers conferred by the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, the governor can provide an exemption from obtaining mandatory approvals, but if allowed it will be opened for other major infrastructure projects as well,” another official said. According to NHSRCL, the project required around 6.83 hectares (16.86 acres) from eight villages in the Palghar district. The villages are — Virathan Khurd, Varkunthi, Rothe, Kamare, Poman, Rajavali, More and Gokhivare. “We will follow the process for land acquisition,” said a senior NHSRCL official, wishing not to be named.
Officials said after the governor refused to grant exemptions, the resolutions for land acquisition were again submitted before the concerned gram sabhas. Dr Kiran Mahajan, deputy collector, Palghar district, confirmed three gram sabhas have approved the acquisition of grazing land and some have called meetings in the coming days. “Poman, Rajavali, Gokhivare villages have approved to give the land for the project and have also cleared the resolutions. Kamare has also cleared the proposal but officially we have to get the resolution from the gram sabha. Rothe and Varkhunthi are yet to clear the resolutions. We have not received any request for Virathan Khurd village,” Dr Mahajan said.
Palghar collector Dr Manik Gursal did not reply to calls and text messages.
PM Modi and his Japanese the then counterpart Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone for the ₹1.08 lakh crore (17 billion dollar) high-speed rail project on September 14, 2017, which will connect two cities — Mumbai and Ahmedabad. It will also be India’s first high-speed rail line. The Narendra Modi government has further set an ambitious deadline of completing the project by August 15, 2022, when India marks 75 years of Independence. NHSRCL, that is implementing the project, however, expects to open a section of the network by then and complete it by December 2023.
According to section 22A of the MLRC Act,“the Gairan (grazing) land may be diverted, granted or leased for a public purpose or public project of the Central or the state government or any statutory authority or any public authority or undertaking under the Central or the state government (hereinafter in this section referred to as “Public Authority”, if no other suitable piece of Government land is available for such public purpose or public project). The compensatory land to be transferred to the state government under sub-section (3) shall be in the same revenue village have area equal to twice the area of Gairan land and its value shall not be less than the value of the Gairan land so allotted under sub-section.”