Perhaps the answer to the problems over land acquisition for industry lies in the approach adopted by the state’s industrial infrastructure arm, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), which is developing a 3,000-hectare SEZ at Khed in Pune district with Bharat Forge.
MIDC first carried out a study to know the aspirations of the locals and checked if they were open to giving up their land. After this, MIDC proposed to make them stakeholders and gave them the option of getting back 15 per cent of the total land acquired after it is fully developed.
MIDC also did some hand-holding and taught farmers how to use the land that they get back and helped them form two joint stock companies.
The whole exercise was carried out by reputed NGOs and educational institutes, those the people trusted, and not government agencies.
“This has helped us complete the first phase of land acquisition of around 1,250 hectares,” says MIDC Chief Executive Officer Rajiv Jalota.
