Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
After COVID 19 outbreak , the Government of India has been focusing on boosting the agriculture economy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 9th formally launched Rs 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund by handing over Rs 1,000 crore to 2,200 farmer societies through a remotely organised function, which was attended by farmers from all over the country. During that event the Prime Minister also released Rs 17,000 crore to 8.5 crore farmers as the sixth installment of the PM-Kisan scheme, taking the total amount disbursed under it to Rs 90,000 crore since its launch in February last year.
The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, cleared by the Union Cabinet in July this year, is meant to provide support to farmers, Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS), farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and agri-entrepreneurs to build community farming assets and post-harvest infrastructure. These assets are expected to enable farmers to get greater value for their produce as they will be able to store and sell at higher prices, reduce wastage, and increase processing and value addition. At a time when the Government of India is serious about developing the farm sector the authorities at helm especially the district administrations are still not serious about addressing farmers issues or providing them a platform to get their grievances redressed.
LG’s Budgam visit
Recently Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha visited Budgam and interacted with several delegations in the DC office premises. I had personally updated the officer concerned about allowing a 2 to 3 member delegation of farmers from Budgam affected by Srinagar Ring Road project to meet the LG. The officer in fact said “this was a good idea” and said he would update the Deputy Commissioner about allowing the delegation to meet the LG. I had updated the farmers in advance and they were very much sure about being intimated in advance by District Administration Budgam. On 3rd September 2020 when LG arrived in Budgam the farmers had no intimation at all.
In Spite of the fact that Budgam is the worst affected district with 90 % of land being acquired in this district alone for 58 kms alternate highway connecting Pampore with Ganderbal via Budgam and Srinagar outskirts, the district administration didn’t allow the delegation of affected farmers to meet LG who is himself a farmer and would have very well understood the plight the affected farmers.
“Around 1000 families are getting affected with the Srinagar Semi Ring Road as 3800 kanals of land is being acquired by the Government. We had requested the district administration Budgam in advance about facilitating our meeting with Lt Governor during his visit to Budgam but the same was denied due to unknown reasons. We had informed the officer incharge about our meeting with LG more than 10 days back before the scheduled visit , but we are unable to understand why we were denied the appointment in spite of the fact that 3800 kanals of land out of total 4700 kanals is being acquired in Budgam district alone” reads the press statement of the Ring Road Land Owners Welfare Committee issued on behalf of its Chairman G A Paul. The press statement was carried by almost all the leading newspapers of J&K on September 4th which includes Daily Excelsior as well.
FC’s approval of awards
The Government’s policy on Srinagar Ring Road land acquisition has disappointed the affected farmers. Government needs to issue a fresh notification for land acquisition as the awards approved by the Financial Commissioner Revenue are bad in law. The reason is time for making the awards has already lapsed as per section 11-B of the J&K Land Acquisition Act 1934 (samvat 1990) which has been repealed post abrogation of article 370.
Section 11-B of the repealed JK Land Acquisition Act 1934 samvat 1990 says that awards are to be prepared within 2 years from the date of issuance of notifications under section 4 . In most of the villages in district Budgam where from Ring Road has to pass the notification was issued in year 2017 on several occasions. This notification lapsed from Jan to December 2019. After 3 years or more of the Govt preparing the awards, this is completely ridiculous to approve the awards .
A New notification under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (RFCTLARR Act 2013) has to be issued as per the provisions of the repealed as well as existing land acquisition laws. Farmers wanted to apprise the LG about these legal provisions but they were denied the appointment which is a highly deplorable act. For last 4 years farmers in Kashmir as well as Jammu have been protesting over forcible land acquisition. Recently an affected land owner from Bishnah Jammu namely Harbans Lal who was an ex Service man committed suicide. Harbans Lal’s house is coming under alignment of Jammu Ring Road project and authorities tried to bulldoze his house asking him to accept mere Rs 11 lakh as compensation for ½ kanal land and house. Harbans Lal ‘s family is yet to get justice.
Conclusion
Farmers play a major role in the development of society and nations. They feed people even in pandemics and wars. We have seen how farmers played their role in making available vegetables during the COVID 19 pandemic across the country. Farmers from Budgam district especially those affected by Ring Road project have been on the forefront of making vegetables available in Srinagar markets and when it was the time to listen to their grievances, the authorities at helm closed their doors. LG Manoj Sinha who himself happens to be a farmer must take a serious notice of this and seek an explanation from Deputy Commissioner Budgam. I urge upon LG to listen to these aggrieved farmers so that justice is delivered to them without any further delay…
(The author is Founder & Chairman of J&K RTI Movement.)
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