More than 1,300 acres of country’s finest agricultural land is all set the disappear from agricultural map as prime minister Manmohan Singh lays foundation of India’s biggest nuclear plant with a capacity of 2,800MW on Monday in Fatehabad district of Haryana.
The land acquired by Haryana government has a formidable canal irrigation system connected with Bhakhra Nangal dam and is capable to give four crops a year including both wheat and rice.
A slew of protests have been organised by various farmer and wildlife organisations against the acquisition of land by the Haryana government as the area is home to many wildlife species like blackbucks and blue bulls. Although at present majority of the farmer have been compensated for their land, none of them has been rehabilitated or resettled because the land was acquired as per the imperial law of 1894.
“Inception of nuclear plant will not only disturb the wildlife of the area but country will lose one of its finest pieces of land. I do not know why India is doing so because most of the Western countries are no more coming up with nuclear plants. Since 1979, the US hasn’t come up with any nuclear plant, Europe too hasn’t made any nuclear plant. Japan too has disbanded its last nuclear plant after Hiroshima disaster. I don’t know why we are accepting a technology which has long been rejected by the developed world,” said Sandeep Pandey, social activist and Raman Magsaysay Award winner, who had joined hands with farmers protesting against Haryana government for acquiring their land in 2012.
A total of almost 860 farmers have been compensated at a rate of Rs 46 lakh per acre with an annuity of 21,000 per acre to be given for 33 years along with an increase of Rs750 per annum.
“This compensation has been increased after farmers’ protest against the acquisition. This land is extremely fertile and can produce four crops a year. Initially, government was just giving Rs 11 lakh per acre in 2010 which most of the farmers refused to accept,” added Pandey.
