Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway: Inadequate Compensations

The Navsari district administration has started issuing compensation notices to farmers to expedite land acquisition for the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway project, giving them two months to give up their land. According to the farmers, the compensation amount for the land given is negligible. They cannot buy another piece of land and the left over land is is hardly enough to cultivate. Majority of the land to be acquired under the expressway project is green belt and farming land. Navsari land acquisition officer PR Jani said, “We have started issuing notices to the farmers whose land falls under the expressway project… Over 454 hectres of land from 22 villages in the district will be acquired for the project. Till now we have issued notices to farmers of 17 villages and the work for remaining villages is in progress.” The farmers of Navsari district are opposing both the bullet train as well as the Vadodara Mumbai expressway project… They are paying the compensation amount as per 2011 jantri rates (ready reckoner for market rates), which is much less than the actual market value. Many farmers are yet to harvest the crop on their land and now they are getting notices.