From: Initiative India <initiativeindia@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 6:04 PM
Subject: [initiative-india] Justice Jha Commission begins inquiry into corruption at Badwani
To:
Justice Jha Commission begins fake registries inquiry at Badwani
Examples of official irregularities and involvement of middlemen surfaces
Justice S.S. Jha Commission of Inquiry which has been investigating into the allegations of hundreds of fake registries in the land-based rehabilitation of the Sardar Sarovar Project affected adivasi and farmer-families began its third phase of hearing at District Badwani today. The Commission has already heard a few hundred sellers, purchasers, witnesses and some advocates and middlemen with regard to the Alirajpur and Devas district registries, during which numerous examples of fake land deals, fabrication of documents and misguidance of the adivasis-farmers has come forth.
The four day hearing at Badwani is to continue upto the 12th November and more than one hundred sellers and purchasers would be heard and cross-examined. Displaced persons from the SSP-affected villages of Badwani such as Avli, Chichli, Gawla, Piplud, Mohipura, Lohara are being heard while the sellers belonging to villages like Kalapani, Titgariya, Kervan, Abhlai etc. from Thikri and Anjad tahsils and a few from Dhar and Khargone are also being examined.
In today's hearing a few startling cases and instances of irregularities and betrayal of oustees emerged. Sixty year old adivasi oustee Bhilya S/o Meghan of village Avli (Tehsil Thikri) categorically admitted that in order to obtain a parcel of land, he had to pay Rs. 60,000 to a Govardhan Jaiswal of village Kalapani (Tehsil Thikri), who he said was a 'middleman' He, along with another man from the Rajput community of village Datwada 'assisted' Bhilya. NVDA officials accepted the registration papers without any questions or verification and issued the cheque of which the payment to Mr. Jaiswal was made.
In another shocking instance, one PAF from village Chichli (Thikri Tehsil), Mansaram S/o Mangilal told Justice Jha that the former Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Officer at Thikri, Mr. Ambaram Patidar took Rs. 3,00,000 from him and his two brothers, but their right to land is not yet attained. The stated purchase of land from Ramashwar S/o Narsingh of village Titgariya (Thikri) also came out to be fake. An old lady Tejubai W/o Dudesing Mankar of village Nandgaon (Thikri) in her deposition said that her family continues to cultivate the land that has been shown as 'sold' to another oustee Sakharam S/o Seetaram of village Chichli !
In yet another case, displaced brothers Hariram, Chandu and Pappu Sons of Tukaram of village Chichli also referred to the involvement of Mr. Ambaram Patidar, who misguided him and 'assured' immediate cash compensation, if he shows up some proof of purchase of land. It also came out that while these adult PAFs are independently entitled to 5 acres land each, they together have only 8 acres of land and, therefore, are also working as wage-labourers. This shows how self-reliant farmers have been converted into dependent workers, due to displacement, without rehabilitation.
It is well known that the entire scandal of fake registries and massive corruption is a consequence of the flawed and illegal policy of 'Special Rehabilitation Package' of the Madhya Pradesh Government which has converted the land entitlement into meager monetary compensation. NBA has proved both in the Courts and on the field that this Policy has not resulted in the attainment of agricultural land by thousands of oustees, but has only catered to the corrupt needs of the NVDA officials and touts and has wasted the state exchequer. The Andolan estimates that there would be anywhere upto 2,500 – 3,000 registries and it would take a couple of years at least for the Commission to inquire into this entire scam, along with allegations of corruption in various other areas of rehabilitation.
It may be recalled that the Jha Commission was appointed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in August 2008 after a PIL was fought for over two years before the Court. During the hearing today, the state government was represented by NVDA official Mr. N.S Chauhan. Medha Patkar, petitioner-in-person before the High Court has been arguing the cases before the Commission. Senior NBA activists, Deven Tomar and Devram Kanera, along with other PAF-activists from various villages of Badwani were also present to assist the Commission in ascertaining the truth.
Ramesh Yadav Bheelubhai Sitarambaba Shrikanth
Contact Ph: 09179148973 / 09423965153
Medha Patkar
Narmada Bachao Andolan,
62, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh – 451551
Ph: 07290-222464; Fax: 07290-222549
E-mail: medha.narmada@gmail.com ;
nba.medha@gmail.com
National Alliance of People's Movements; National Office: Room No. 29-30, 1st floor, 'A' Wing, Haji Habib Bldg, Naigaon Cross Road, Dadar (E), Mumbai - 400 014;
Ph: 022-24150529
E-mail: napmindia@gmail.com
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Initiative India" group.
To post to this group, send email to initiative-india@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to initiative-india+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/initiative-india?hl=en.
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment