Stars and tycoons in Sahyadri land grab

PUNE: The rich biodiversity of the Western Ghats is under threat from a massive land scam involving film stars, business tycoons, farmers and unscrupulous agents.

Thousands of acres of forests and fertile farmland in the rolling hills of the mountain range are being parcelled out for sums ranging from Rs2-25 lakh, with the understanding that the purchases will be regularised by the government in due course.

The Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri mountains, harbour a rich collection of flora and fauna and are listed for World Heritage conservation status. But because of the construction activity on the mushrooming farmhouses, soon there may not be anything to conserve.

With much of the privately owned agricultural land already taken up for construction of bungalows and weekend resorts, land sharks have set their eyes on a 1,000-acre stretch the government acquired in the 1960s to set up an irrigation project in Pawna village near Lonavala.

The stretch of land is still in the possession of the Pune-based Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC), which is part of the state irrigation department. But real estate agents have started marketing plots to investors promising them a transfer of rights.

Officials at the MKVDC and the collector’s office said plans were being drawn to return the land to the farmers from whom it was acquired. Interestingly, there is a Supreme Court ruling that says if surplus acquired land remains unused for public purpose, it should not be returned to the original owners, but auctioned in the open market. The officials said that to get around the ruling, the state plans to declare the farmers—who originally owned the land—as project-affected people (PAP) so that the returned land can then be shown as having being used for the rehabilitation of PAPs. Incidentally, in 1997 the government had cited the apex court ruling to block the transfer of the land to the farmers. The question is, what prompted the government to release the land 45 years after takeover?

A real estate agent active in the region said the latest move is part of a plan hatched by agents and farmers in collusion with government officials to release the land in the open market whereby the acres being booked by outside investors can be regularised.

People in various villages in the Sahyadri range said the virgin terrain started being eyed as real estate when a Mumbai-based agent realised the region’s potential in 1996. Soon, more agents climbed the mountain realty bandwagon. The farmers easily complied in the face of the promised windfall and doubled up as subagents.

Not every villager is pleased, of course, with instances abounding of farmers being conned in the process.