Indore: Industrial corridor stuck due to land acquisition woes

Even as the state government has been pushing hard to get industrial projects implemented, one of the biggest projects in the region — the Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow investment node of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) — is stuck due to land acquisition woes.

The land acquisition has hit a roadblock with private land owners moving the court. "We need 1,000 to 1,500 hectare land for the project. Although the government owns a portion of the land, the acquisition can’t be completed without private land as at some places the lands are adjacent to each other," a senior official of state industry department told HT.

When the land acquisition for the proposed industrial corridor began in 2010, the state government was depending on the archaic Land Acquisition Act of 1894 to acquire the land. However, the whole process has been moving at a snail’s pace after the UPA government passed the new land acquisition bill. It has also escalated the project cost as the government will have to pay a far higher compensation to the land owners.

The legislation has also brought into effect a comprehensive scheme for resettling affected people by assuring them house sites, employment with the project, apart from paying four times the market value of the farmland.

Kisan Sangarsh Samiti president Babusingh Patel said that the farmers must get fair compensation for their land and land should not be acquired forcibly. The organisation is fighting against the government’s on-going land acquisition in Dhar district for DMIC project. However, for some farmers the compensation is secondary and they are unwilling to part with their land.

The state government has sanctioned over Rs 286 crore for acquiring 1,250 hectare land for the DMIC project in Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow investment node. The Union government has already approved financial assistance of Rs 2,500 crore for the development of the DMIC industrial corridor in the first phase.

However, the responsibility of land acquisition lies with the state government. The proposed 22-km long and 300 metre wide economic corridor traverses through Indore, Mhow and Depalpur tehsils of Indore district and Dhar tehsil.