Not for sale

Okay, go ahead, build industries. But why at the cost of the precious, fertile, ancestral lands of farmers? Punjab’s farmers are unanimous—no SEZs on our land

Sandeep Yadav Chandigarh

Gurmukh Singh, 58, of Pandori Mehma, Amritsar, died of heart attack last month. Nothing abnormal, for people far younger are dying of heart attack these days. However, the abnormality lies in the reason that triggered the collapse of his heart. And therein lies the uncanny narrative of Punjab’s experiments with liberalisation.

Says Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu, Convenor, Kisan Sangharsh Committee (KSC), “The moment Gurmukh heard that his three acre land has come under the government notification to be acquired for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), he suffered a stroke. He was dead before any medical help could be provided.”

Gurmukh Singh, the proud Sikh farmer, could not accept the trauma and the taboo dogging rural Punjab across the landscape—of being suddenly landless, rootless, homeless, an agriculturist without an inch of land he could call his own.

Once again, tragedy is stalking the prosperous state of Punjab, and for all the wrong reasons. As if the suicides hundreds of farmers, especially in the Malwa region and rest of Punjab, were not enough, farmers have upped their ante against the forcible seizure of their land by the Amrinder Singh-led Congress government so as to create SEZs under

private monopoly. The Punjab government has issued a notification for the acquisition of 1,218 acres of fertile agricultural land in seven villages around Amritsar for the fast expanding Delhi Lease and Finance (DLF) Company, which is into lucrative real estate business. Ever since, the farmers, whose land is to be forcibly acquired, are crying foul. From rail roko in Amritsar to dharna at Matka Chowk in Chandigarh, angry farmers are up in arms.

The prime land for this SEZ on National Highway 1 lies in close proximity to the railway station. This is considered a precious geographical terrain that “just can’t be valued” in terms of standard market rates, locals say. But now, this land is being grabbed for a “measly” sum of Rs 8 lakh to 10 lakh per acre. The farmers not only don’t want to give away their ancestral land, they are also claiming that the market price of this prime property is Rs 60 lakh to 70 lakh per acre, even more, as real estate business booms.

The story is no different for the three villages of Barnala subdivision, in Sangrur district, where 376 acres of land, with the wheat crop ready for harvest, have been taken over by the Trident Group. There is intense resentment here. The farmers have not been allowed to harvest their crop. The area has already been fenced by the private company. Hundreds of farmers have refused to accept the compensation. Sukhdev Singh, General Secretary, Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta, questions the policy of doling out agricultural land for the SEZs. “This is an extremely fertile, double-crop land. I see no point in building factories on land that produces tonnes of wheat and rice,” he argues.

However, Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Punjab Government, follows a different, but predictable, logic. “Call it a curse or boon for Punjab, but there is no wasteland in the state. Since agriculture has reached stagnation point here, industrialisation is the only way out. And if we have to give impetus to industrialisation, then obviously, we need land,” explains Kumar.

The fact is there are large tracts of barren land in Punjab. According to Sukhdev Singh, “ Three thousand hectares of land in the district of Amritsar alone is marked as wasteland in the Agricultural census. Bhatinda has 9,000 hectares of wasteland.” As per National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board, under the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Patiala has more than 1,146 hectares of wasteland, while Gurdaspur has 249.93. Almost all districts have a tract of barren land. More than a decade ago, the government had acquired about 1,200 hectares of barren land, near Goindwal village in Amritsar, for industrialisation. But not a single industry has been set up there; now, the reported plan is to sell this land as residential plots. “If the government is so keen on pleasing DLF, why doesn’t it give this barren land to the developers, instead of snatching the farmers’ fertile land?” asks Sukhdev.

The logic of setting up SEZs on barren land is gaining ground in Punjab. Currently, the growth rate here is close to 10 per cent and economists argue it might become difficult to maintain this if rapid industrialisation is ignored. According to official estimates, only about one per cent of the total land would be utilised if all the industrial, housing and IT projects proposed so far were to be set up. Punjab already has six approved SEZs, while five more are yet to be cleared by the Centre.

Indeed, farmers around Amritsar, Mohali and the Doab region are not disputing the need to set up industries. Even small farmers, holding less then one acre of land, are not against industrialisation. But no one wants it at the cost of their land. “Yes, we need industries. But I can barely sustain my family through agriculture. I have two sons. After the division of my holding between them, they can just about fill their stomach. Still, I can’t sell my land and make my sons landless, trapped in poverty,” says Trilochan Singh, a farmer with three acres of land in a village near Mohali.

Political parties and farmers’ organisations echo similar sentiments. There is simmering angst and anger. The future of Punjab is industries, they agree, but not at the cost of the precious, fertile, ancestral land of the farmers. Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has said there will be no SEZs on agricultural land. Even Sonia Gandhi has cautioned against harming the farmers’ interests. As a result, the proposed SEZs in Mohali and Dera Bassi just might not take of. But the fact is that land rates have risen sharply in these areas in anticipation of the upcoming SEZs. There are reports that multinational developers are also buying or planning to buy massive tracts in and around the SEZs so as to profit from the future escalation of real estate prices.

Former chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, of the Shiromani Akali Dal, believes the entire SEZ business is a “sham, a real estate scam”. “The Congress government is insensitive towards the demands of the farmers, and I can assure you, it will pay the price. First, you are forcibly acquiring the agricultural land of the farmers and on top of that you are not paying them the proper value for their land. What kind of democracy and development are we talking about? This is all to fill the coffers of the big companies and MNCs,” he said.

Sanjay Kumar provides the official version: “The Punjab government is not buying land for any SEZ, except for the DLF in Amritsar since it is committed via a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the company.  At other places, developers are directly buying land from farmers for their SEZs.” Kumar, who signed the MoU the DLF, said the government has appointed a grievances committee to look into the objections raised by the farmers on the SEZ in Amritsar. But what will this committee do in case farmers refuse to sell their land? Kumar was clueless.

There are other problems. The development of SEZs in remote areas, without a modicum of infrastructure, electricity connections and roads, is not feasible. Access to the national highways and modern facilities of education and health are a pre-

requisite to attract entrepreneurs. The onus falls on the government to develop rural infrastructure. But, as in Punjab, the government has found an easy way out—dole out agricultural land for SEZs in the suburbs of cities and make hay while the sun shines.

Since Punjab is going to the polls next year, the present regime might revise the land prices; but the ecological, economic and social impact of this ‘assault’ on agricultural land might have long-term impacts.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while laying the foundation stone of the DLF-SEZ in Amritsar, lauded the industrial tradition of the area and hoped to revive that tradition through the SEZs. However, he seems to have forgotten the other tradition of Punjab—the tradition of great warriors. Surely, Amrinder Singh has a war on his hand. And if he chooses arrogance and underestimates the farmer community’s resilience, he might have to pay a heavy price in the forthcoming elections.