MIDC woos farmers

Farmers are being offered incentives for selling land.

To tackle the opposition from farmers to land acquisition for industrial use, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has come forward with a novel initiative.

It will offer 15 per cent land in the industrial park to farmers' co-operatives at 50 per cent concession as well as giving vocational training to the youth in the area, so they can get industrial jobs.

Speaking with Business Standard, the chief executive officer of MIDC, Rajiv Jalota, said: "We often see opposition or resentment from farmers because they think that we purchase land from them at cheaper rates and sell it to the big companies at much higher rates and indulge in profiteering."

"But they do not realise that if the farmer tries to sell his land directly to a corporate, it will not attract the same price that we get. MIDC gets a good price because after acquiring the land from farmers, we provide facilities like roads, water, electricity supply, drainage systems, and now, even optical fiber connectivity, which pushes up the land value."

However, to overcome their opposition and ensure swift land acquisition, MIDC has come up with this 15 per cent scheme. "Currently, we are not able to meet the demand for land from the industry. So we are giving incentives to the farmers for selling land," Jalota said.

Under the scheme MIDC is encouraging the farmers to form co-operatives or joint stock companies and offering them 15 per cent of the land which is available for sale to industrial units. Besides, MIDC is also offering five per cent of the land which is earmarked for commercial purposes in the industrial park, Jalota explained.

"Many times, we find that more than compensation for the land, farmers are worried about what their children will do if they sell the land. It is to to overcome this fear that we are launching a vocational training programme which will help the youth from area to find jobs in the industries which come up in that area," Jalota said.