Parth M.N.

Sharmila Joshi

Editor

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It might
be only a matter of time before Padmabai Gajare loses her land.  “Had it not been for this land, god knows how
we would have survived,” she says.

For eight
years after losing her husband Pandharinath, 39, in a motorbike accident,
Padmabai has worked tirelessly and stabilised her family, which was reeling
from the loss. Pandharinath left behind two sons, two daughters, his mother and
6.5 acres of farmland. 

“I was
scared and lonely,” she says, sitting in the family’ two-room house in Hadas Pimpalgaon village of
Aurangabad’s Vaijapur taluka.
“My children were young. I had to take up responsibilities I was not used to.
While managing the kitchen, I started operating the farmland as well. Even
today, I work as much on the farm.”

But now 40-year-old Gajare might be forced to give up her land. The state government wants it for the Samruddhi Mahamarg (‘prosperity highway’), which will &#39;connect&#39; 392 villages in 26 talukas,
says the Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg website, in 10 districts of Maharashtra. Of these, 63 villages are in the agrarian region of Marathwada, mainly in Aurangabad and Jalna districts.To
build the ‘prosperity’ highway, the state will require 9,900 hectares (around 24,250 acres), says the Mahamarg website. This includes six acres of Padmabai’s farm,
where she cultivates cotton, bajra and moong. If forced to give it up, the family
will be left with just half an acre. Every time someone mentions the project, Padmabai
shudders. “If my land is forcibly taken away from me, I will commit suicide,”
she says, “The land is like a child to me.”

In March
this year, the Maharashtra State Road Development
Corporation Limited (MSRDC) evaluated Padmabai’s land –
Rs. 13 lakhs per acre or Rs. 78 lakhs for six acres. That might sound lucrative,
but for her it is not about money. “I married off my daughters [now 25 and 22
years old], educated my sons, have looked after my mother-in law, rebuilt this
household – all by working on the farm,” she says, furious. “It has held the
family together. If the land is gone, what will I have to look forward to? Our
land is our identity.” 

Padmabai’s
younger son is 18, studying science; the older one is 20. Both work on the family
farm. “We all know how difficult it is to get a job in today’s world,” she
says. “If they don’t get one, they will have to work as daily wage labourers or
watchmen in the city. With land of your own, you have something to fall back
on.”


















The
Gajares’ farm in Hadas Pimpalgaon, a village of around 1,250 people, is not far
from the existing Mumbai-Nagpur highway. But Devendra Fadnavis, the chief
minister of Maharashtra, is promoting the new highway as a project that will
change the state’s fortunes. The eight-lane, 120-metre wide, 700-kilometre long expressway will, he claims, boost the economy with swift access for farm
produce to ports, airports and agro-processing hubs. The project will
reportedly cost Rs. 46,000 crores.

Of the 9,900 hectares required,  1,000 hectares is already with the state government, including
forest department land, the joint managing director of MSRDC, K.V. Kurundkar, told this reporter. The rest has to be acquired. “We have received consent for only 2,700
hectares, and acquired 983 hectares,” Kurundkar says. “We are in the process of
acquiring more land. In villages with resistance, we are talking to the
farmers and trying to convince them.” The project cannot begin, he says, until
the state gets hold of 80 per cent of the land. The plan is to start in January
2018.

Why are
farmers in Marathwada not willing to sell their land for a seemingly substantial
amount when farming has become increasingly difficult in most parts of the region
due to a lack of formal credit systems, erratic weather and low returns on food
crops? So much so that it has driven hundreds of farmers to suicide and thousands
are in debt. 

One
reason, as Padmabai points out, is that land has value that cannot be measured
in monetary terms. Another major reason is the credibility of the government. Several
farmers in debt may well be willing to let their land go, but they don’t trust
the state to live up to the promises made ahead of the deal.

Kakasaheb
Nighote, also from Hadas Pimpalgaon, says, “Look at the track record of any
government. Does it invoke confidence? They do not care about farmers. There
are countless examples across the country where farmers and Adivasis are
promised many things before their land is acquired. But in the end it is they
who are exploited.” 

Forty-year-old Nighote will
lose six of his 12 acres to the highway. He shows us the notice served by the MSRDC
on March 3 to the village. “The government says we will not do anything without
the farmers’ consent,” he says. “But their notice says if you or your
representatives are not present on the given day, it will be assumed that you
do not require the collective counting of land. We even had to fight for a
simple form [at the collectors’ office] that allows us to note our grievances.”

Around 35
kilometres from Hadas Pimpalgaon, along the Aurangabad-Nashik highway that runs
parallel to the old Mumbai-Nagpur highway,  farmers in Maliwada village of Gangapur taluka are in trouble too. A majority of them
in this village of around 4,400 people cultivate fruits such as guava, chikoo
and figs.

Their
farms are located right along the border of Aurangabad and Gangapur. A dusty
road, just 10-feet wide, runs through Maliwada separating the two talukas.
When the MSRDC evaluated the land in July 2017,  land in villages closer to Aurangabad city was
deemed more valuable. Maliwada is just 16 kilometres from the city, but because
it is not in Aurangabad taluka, the farmers here say they have been
offered Rs. 12 lakhs per acre, while farmers with land 10 feet away will get Rs.
56 lakhs per acre. 


















Balasaheb
Hekde, 34, of Maliwada, facing the prospect of losing his 4.5-acre orchard,
says, “It [the evaluation] makes no sense. I cultivate saffron, guava and
mango. My yearly profits are around what they are offering per acre [Rs. 12
lakhs]. No matter how much money we are offered, how long will that last?”

Hekde says
though farmers in many parts of Marathwada are struggling, those in villages
like Maliwada, with established orchards for horticulture, are financially
sound.  The Kesapuri dam is close by, the
land here is fertile. “Why would anybody sell their land if it is fertile and
making money?” he asks. “It requires a lot of investment at first. But if you
can sustain that, you are set. My father spent 15 years to set up this orchard.
Even if they compensate us with another piece of land, we would have to spend
another 15 years to set up an orchard there. And how do we know the new land will
be as fertile?

“Farmers do not want to sell their fertile
land,&quot; reiterates Raju Desle, farm activist with the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) and a member of the Samruddhi Mahamarg Shetkari Sangharsh Samiti, which is opposing
the project. Besides, the differing deals being offered to farmers are causing
a lot of discontent. &quot;At least 10,000 farmers will be displaced [across the
state]. The compensation should have been one-project-one-cost,” Desle says. “But
some farmers are benefitting a lot, while some are getting a raw deal.&quot;

However, MSRDC’s Kurundkar says the land has been evaluated properly
and a single rate will be unfair on farmers with land at prime locations.
&quot;The disparity is negated when farmers get four times of what their land
costs,&quot; he says. “Farmers who have sold their land [to us] are content. We
gave them four times of the market price and they have even purchased a different
plot. Now they have land and also a bank balance.”

But
many are not convinced. When MSRDC officials arrived in Maliwada on December 24
last year to inspect the farms and demark the area, many in this village of
4400 people resisted and tried to prevent the officials from completing the
exercise. “They went ahead and erected poles on our land amidst police presence,”
says Hekde. “Until that moment, all of us had thought that something would
happen and our lands would be saved.”When Hekde’s 62-year-old father Vishwanath heard of his land being marked, he rushed to the spot. “The demarked area ran through our entire land,” Hekde says. “My father saw it and suffered a heart attack that evening. He did not have any health issues. Two days later, on December 26, he died.”

Maliwada has since passed a resolution of  ‘gaobandi’
or a ban on MSRDC officials entering the village.  The village, like many others in Marthwada,
observed a ‘Black Diwali’ this year by installing black lanterns in front of
their houses. Desle says 17 gram panchayats in Nashik district have passed
a resolution against selling their land.   

So instead of this unwanted new highway, Hekde remarks, “The
government should fix all the potholes on the old highways.”

On the ‘prosperity highway' to penury?

‘সমৃদ্ধি মহামার্গ’ থেকে অভাবের পথে?

வறுமைக்கு கொண்டு செல்லும் ‘செழுமைச் சாலை’?

‘समृद्धि महामार्ग’ से ग़रीबी की ओर?

’خوشحالی کی شاہراہ‘ سے غریبی کی طرف؟

ସମୃଦ୍ଧିର ରାଜପଥରେ ଦାରିଦ୍ର୍ୟ ଆଡ଼କୁ?

हलाखीत ढकलणारा ‘समृद्धी’ महामार्ग

'সমৃদ্ধিৰ ঘাইপথ'ৰ পৰা দৰিদ্ৰতালৈ

Hadas, Pimpalgaon

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On the ‘prosperity highway' to penury?

Many in Marathwada are resisting the proposed Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Highway, which the CM claims will transform the state's economy – while displacing thousands of farmers in nearly 400 villages

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