India’s Supreme Court has dismissed a plea challenging the Gujarat state government’s decision to acquire “fertile agricultural” land for Tata Motors’ Nano car project.
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A bench headed by chief justice KG Balakrishnan questioned the locus standi of an NGO opposing the project. The court said: “You don’t want industrialisation?” When the NGO Rashtriya Kisan Dal’s chief HK Thaker alleged around 1,100 acres of fertile agricultural land of 4,000 farmers has been given to Tata Motors at INR4.1bn, the bench grilled him for filing the PIL, the Hindustan Times reported.
“Do you know whether people, whose land has been acquired, have been awarded compensation or not?” the court said. When he replied in negative, the court questioned his credentials.
Meanwhile, around 4,000 people, mostly farmers, on Monday rallied to protest land acquisition by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) in villages near Sanand.
GIDC has started a process to acquire more over 5,000 acres for industrial purposes in villages like Aripura, Charal, Bol and Siyawada near Sanand.
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