Click to play videoKolkata: After JSW steel, construction giant DLF has promised a dream compensation package to farmers in West Bengal.
DLF has offered to pay a whopping Rs 55 lakh an acre for acquiring close to 5,000 acres near Kolkata.
Never before has any company paid so much, even the Government paid up to Rs 14 lakh an acre in Singur, which is 20 kilometers away.
DLF proposes to build an integrated township and a 100-acre SEZ. And the rehabilitation package it has promised is awesome.
The package includes guaranteed employment, alternative housing, education and even health care facilities for displaced farmers.
Says Chairman, DLF Commercial Developers, A S Minocha, "We have to go with the people and we have to go with the government's policies. And we would like people to be happy when we are coming there, because ultimately when our company goes to a place, it is for the betterment of everyone."
DLF has a policy of offering alternative land to displaced farmers, and it claims to have had great success with the land-for-land compensation formula.
The West Bengal government, too, is planning something similar for farmers of Singur.
Following Mamata Banerjee's meeting with former chief minister Jyoti Basu, the state government has started exploring the possibility of providing alternative land to farmers who did not agree to sell land for Tata Motors' small car project.
"Yes, it is possible to allot land for compensation, though land isn't available in Singur. There are some legal issues as well, but the Commerce and Industries minister is working on them," Jyoti Basu had said.
A formal announcement is expected to be made in a few days. The government has admitted in court that a third of this 997-acre plot was acquired forcefully, and it might have to make provision for allotting around 300 acres to compensate farmers.
It's a political gambit aimed at building consensus on farmland acquisition in West Bengal.
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