Rs14.7 lakh an acre for Raipur farmers

The Chhattisgarh government has claimed that it had paid the farmers three to four times more than the market price to purchase their land for building up the new capital of state""about 20 km from the existing one.

Chhattisgarh Minister for Housing and Environment Ganeshram Bhagat clarified that the government had paid much higher price as compared to market rate to the farmers giving their land for new capital project.

"The government had paid upto Rs 14.75 lakh per acre to the farmers," Bhagat said.

The Delhi-based real estate major Omaxe has recently won the bid floated by Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) to develop the theme township with 18 Hole Golf Course with an estimated cost of Rs 1800 crore.

Bhagat however denied the allegation of the opposition members that the rehabilitation policy and the other norms set up for the land acquisition was aimed to provide benefits to the private builders.

The matter came up for discussion in the House as Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma raised the issue through a call attention notice and said the poor farmers were severely affected following the rehabilitation policy of the state government for building the new capital.

"The government acquired 400 acres of land for proposed golf course and theme township in the new capital for just Rs 5 lakh an acre from the farmers," Karma said, adding that while the tenders floated for both the projects underlined that the government would sell the same land to private bidders for Rs 1 crore per acre.

The leader of opposition charged that the government was duping the poor farmers.