Singur: Did government get consent from land owners?
For the last couple of weeks mainstream media have been echoing what Buddha said: owners of 958.84 acres out of 997.11 acres have already given their consent. Now WB government has published a status report on Singur and this is available at www.wbgov.com.
From the status report, it is clear that WB government failed to receive the consent from the people. It says “So far, i.e. upto 31st December 2006, a total of 9839 cheques, for a total amount of about Rs. 83 crores, covering 658 acres have been disbursed.”
According to the report,
Land Acquisition compensation:
Total compensation payable: Rs. 119 crores
Disbursement till 31st December 2006: Rs. 83 Crore
Number of persons to whom cheques have been issued: 9839
Area of land in respect of which payment has been made: 658 acres
Total Disbursement yet to be made: Rs. 36 Crores
Persons yet to receive payment: 2400 (approx)
Obviously this doesn’t support the claim that they got the ‘consent’ for 958.84 acres. If it was true, then they should have distributed the payment for 958.84 acres, not for 658 acres of land.
But, interestingly this report elsewhere says, “Total consents to award of compensation received till 31st December 2006 covers an area of 958.84 acres. This process is still continuing.” But, what does consent mean to government? It clarifies, “The Act does not have any provision for the Collector to obtain individual consent of landowners to the acquisition nor is there any prescribed form for consent to acquisition. Landowners or persons interested in the lands notified under Section 4 have the opportunity to file objections under Section 5A within 30 days of the publication of notification under Section 4. These objections have to be heard and decided by the Government and the decision of the Government on these objections shall be final” and “Not accepting the compensation after declaration of award for any part of land does not mean that the land for that part will not be vested in the government”. It simply means there is actually no right of the land-owner. The government can acquire land whenever they like under this act (Land Acquisition Act 1894). This Act is obviously undemocratic and reactionary as it was made to serve the interest of British imperialist. It is a tragedy (or comedy) that so called anti-imperialist CPM and a ‘pro-people’ government run by them uses an imperialist Act to acquire land from the people. However, it is not the issue. The issue is why CPM raised the point of consent? Obviously they tried to make us fool and cover the reactionary and undemocratic character of the imperialist Act and pretended to be democratic and a government of difference.
But, don’t consider this as the peak of CPM –brand fallacy. There is more.
The report confirms “On 4th October 2006, the Collector took over possession of the land and handed over the same to WBIDC on the same day” And “Conversion of the usage of the land from agriculture to factory was done on 21st November 2006 in accordance with the Section 4(C) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955.”
Isn’t it ridiculous that even after taking the possesion of land on Oct 4th 2006, they are still collecting consents from the land-owners and don’t feel ashamed to claim that they got the ‘consent’?
What else we expect from social fascists and their propaganda machinery?
Update on May 2, 2007
The status report is no longer available at www.wbgov.com. We like to keep this report available to the people as an example how the government run their propaganda machinery to make us fool. Download the report here.
From the status report, it is clear that WB government failed to receive the consent from the people. It says “So far, i.e. upto 31st December 2006, a total of 9839 cheques, for a total amount of about Rs. 83 crores, covering 658 acres have been disbursed.”
According to the report,
Land Acquisition compensation:
Total compensation payable: Rs. 119 crores
Disbursement till 31st December 2006: Rs. 83 Crore
Number of persons to whom cheques have been issued: 9839
Area of land in respect of which payment has been made: 658 acres
Total Disbursement yet to be made: Rs. 36 Crores
Persons yet to receive payment: 2400 (approx)
Obviously this doesn’t support the claim that they got the ‘consent’ for 958.84 acres. If it was true, then they should have distributed the payment for 958.84 acres, not for 658 acres of land.
But, interestingly this report elsewhere says, “Total consents to award of compensation received till 31st December 2006 covers an area of 958.84 acres. This process is still continuing.” But, what does consent mean to government? It clarifies, “The Act does not have any provision for the Collector to obtain individual consent of landowners to the acquisition nor is there any prescribed form for consent to acquisition. Landowners or persons interested in the lands notified under Section 4 have the opportunity to file objections under Section 5A within 30 days of the publication of notification under Section 4. These objections have to be heard and decided by the Government and the decision of the Government on these objections shall be final” and “Not accepting the compensation after declaration of award for any part of land does not mean that the land for that part will not be vested in the government”. It simply means there is actually no right of the land-owner. The government can acquire land whenever they like under this act (Land Acquisition Act 1894). This Act is obviously undemocratic and reactionary as it was made to serve the interest of British imperialist. It is a tragedy (or comedy) that so called anti-imperialist CPM and a ‘pro-people’ government run by them uses an imperialist Act to acquire land from the people. However, it is not the issue. The issue is why CPM raised the point of consent? Obviously they tried to make us fool and cover the reactionary and undemocratic character of the imperialist Act and pretended to be democratic and a government of difference.
But, don’t consider this as the peak of CPM –brand fallacy. There is more.
The report confirms “On 4th October 2006, the Collector took over possession of the land and handed over the same to WBIDC on the same day” And “Conversion of the usage of the land from agriculture to factory was done on 21st November 2006 in accordance with the Section 4(C) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955.”
Isn’t it ridiculous that even after taking the possesion of land on Oct 4th 2006, they are still collecting consents from the land-owners and don’t feel ashamed to claim that they got the ‘consent’?
What else we expect from social fascists and their propaganda machinery?
Update on May 2, 2007
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