- The project: Ultratech cement plant
- The issue: Permissions, clearances
To build even a simple house, every permission and clearance has to be obtained on paper before a single brick is laid. But not, it seems, to build a gigantic cement factory in a mostly tribal area which could displace thousands of adivasis. Little wonder, farmers from nearly 27 villages, mostly tribal, of Manavar tehsil of Dhar district, have been protesting since 2010 against the acquisition of their land for the proposed Ultratech cement plant.
The villagers allege that without getting prior approval from the Union environment ministry and consent of the gram sabhas, the Aditya Birla group company is continuing construction work at the project site. The gram sabha in Manavar passed a resolution opposing the proposed cement factory but the company has started issuing notices to the villagers to evict them, says a local, Sharddha Kashyap, who’s also national convenor of the Ekta Parishad.
All the affected villages are in the command area of the Maan dam of the Narmada Valley Development Authority and is fully irrigated land. There are three cement factories in the vicinity lying closed for the last 10 years, rendering the land around uncultivable. Villagers allege the Birla plant has damaged standing crops in the only area cultivable (the three defunct cement factories have rendered large tracts of land around here barren).
The first public hearing for acquiring the land was held in 2010. After the new land acquisition bill came in September ’14, the company started to expedite the eviction work in order to avoid the high compensation, allege the villagers. “Some farmers have been sent to jail for opposing the construction works,” says Gobriya Chagan of Pitli Bawadi village, who got notice from the company for his 2.5 acres of land. Few villagers are surprised that the project is coming up in those villages where water from the Maan reservoir is being supplied. “It appears the Maan jalashaya was the key incentive for the company to make the investment,” says Ramsingh of the village.
Anish, a social activist, says CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who calls himself a “kisan putra” is working against the interest of farmers. A new amendment in the MP Land Act passed in March 2015 is devastating, he says. The government has abolished the clause against diversion of agricultural land to benefit industrialists. The government is also planning to bring in an amendment to allow easy transfer of lands belonging to tribals to non-tribals. MP has the largest tribal population in the country and if this happens, adivasi farmers will be wiped out, says Anish.
By K.S. Shaini in Bhopal
