JSW to return 294 acres at Salboni to farmers for free

KOLKATA/SALBONI: A month ahead of the government's showpiece Global Investment Summit in the city, the Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group has proposed to give back 294 acres of Salboni land that the company had purchased from farmers, free of cost. This land parcel is part of the 4,334 acres of Salboni project area that comprises mostly of government vested land.
"The Jindal Group has written to finance minister Amit Mitra saying that it will return around 294 acres to farmers, free of cost," chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced at Nabanna on Monday. The CM's announcement is indication that the government will accept the Jindal proposal apparently on "mutual benefit." The government, in fact, was working on such a proposal with the company. It has already formed a committee under the district magistrate to start the land return procedure, the CM said.
The JSW Group has already curtailed its initial Rs 35,000-crore integrated steel, power and cement project to only a power plant and so doesn't require so much land. It can afford let go of the 294 acres purchased directly from farmers, who've been agitating against the company keeping the Salboni land idle for seven years. The Trinamool-led landlosers called off their stir soon after the CM's announcement.
The financial liability of the proposal will be approximately Rs 17.64 crore for JSW.
Said farmer Parishkar Mahato, "The JSW Group offered Rs 6 lakh per acre for agricultural land and Rs 5.5 lakh for non-agricultural land. We were paid 50% of the price while the rest is pending." Going by what Mahato says, the net outgo of the company will be only Rs 8.82 crore - not too high a premium for buying peace. "We are not asking for any compensation for returning the land. We are offering contiguous land from our project area," said JSW Bengal Projects regional director Biswadip Gupta.
The government, on the other hand, seems relieved with the JSW offer. First, the move will help the Mamata government keep its promise of returning unutilized land to farmers when a similar effort is caught in legal tangle in the Singur case. A section of Trinamool Congress leaders and some government officials are hopeful that Salboni might show the way to the Tatas.
Second, the government can rid itself of the pressure building on it and the JSW Group to return the land since the project hasn't taken off more than five years after taking of possession of the land. Section 101 of the new Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, Resettlement Act, 2013, provides that land remaining unutilized for five years has to be returned to the original owner or to the government's land bank. However, this law came into effect after the JSW Group initiated its purchase procedure at Salbani.
Touted as a "win-win" proposal for JSW and the state government, the move is, however, not as smooth as it seems. The proposal has evoked mixed response among landlosers and the legal fraternity.
The Salboni JSW Landlosers' Welfare Association is not in a mood to wind up the agitation. "We want our own land back, not the ones that the company wants to give us from one corner of the project area.
Besides, the land has to be reverted to its earlier state when it was under cultivation. We also want the government to return the 189 acres that the WBIDC acquired from farmers," said association secretary Parishkar Mahato.
Sushanta Mahato, who works as a temporary electrician at the JSW Salboni site is also upset with the company's proposal. "My brother and I gave one acre for the project. I don't want the land back. Instead, I want the project to come up so that I get a job," said Sushanta.
Congress leader and high court lawyer Arunava Ghosh argues that the proposal itself is controversial. "The JSW Group can return 24 acres of land it owns. The rest 270 acres doesn't belong to the company anymore. This part belongs to the government which gave it on lease to the company. The company can return the land free of cost (24 acres). Whether the government can return the land free of cost is a question," Ghosh said.