Land prices soar around disputed nuclear project site

Mumbai: Even as naysayers are raising the bugbear of Japan's dual disaster as justification to stall the creation of a 10,000 MW nuclear power plant at Jaitapur, something atypical is happening in and around the disputed site in Ratnagiri district.

Its land has suddenly climbed up the real estate charts to be the prime property in the region, being traded at five to seven times its market price.

Its immediate neighbours in southern Ratnagiri and the entire Konkan belt, mainly Rajapur and Vijaydurg, are also witnessing a flurry of land sales at prices that haven't been matched at any time prior to this. The business is seething to the point that of the 7,000 acres that make up these districts, 3,000 acres has already been sold.

Strikingly, the deals are closed by mediators and villagers hardly ever come to know the original buyer.

MiD DAY decided to visit the site and ferret out what is so suddenly alluring about this land, and more importantly, for whom is the allure so irresistible.

Plum proposals

After conversations with villagers and social activists in the region, it was clear that over the course of the last year or two, most villagers had sold their land, apparently, because the buyer made them offers they couldn't refuse: a price way higher than the prevailing market price. In fact, certain villages in the belt have been completely sold.

Nandkumar Mashulkar, a resident of Natye village, 5 km from Jaitapur, who sold his 1.25 acre of plot for Rs 5 lakh a year ago, said that nearly all the land in his village has been bought. "My land was in the interior, far from the road, and yet the money that I was offered was higher than what I could get at the existing rate," he said.

"Earlier a guntha (a measure of land one-fortieth of an acre) would have fetched me a paltry amount. But thanks to the sudden demand for land in this part of the state, I managed to make a lot of money," he said.

The most noteworthy aspect of the spurt of land deals in the region is that none of the villagers have conclusive ideas about who they are selling the land to. Neither the farmers nor the activists have an answer to this. Most deals are liaised and the real buyers are hardly ever apparent.

Mashulkar, like others in the region, doesn't know whom he has sold the land to. "My land was bought by a middleman and since the sale, I haven't seen any development taking place on my land."

Dazzling prices

Pandurang Lingayat, a villager from Mitgawane, close to the proposed project site, confirmed that there were quite a few who were selling off their land. "The price that was offered to one villager was nearly Rs 10,000 per guntha." This is eye-catching because a guntha doesn't sell for more than Rs 2,000 in this region.

Advocate Pradeep Parulekar of the Ratnagiri Zilla Jagruk Manch said that two years ago, one guntha of prime land in the Ratnagiri belt would sell for Rs 2,000 at the most. "Now the prices have shot up to Rs 10,000-15,000 per guntha, depending on the area. People don't deal in gunthas any more, instead they deal in acres," he said.

Expert speaks

Advocate Parulekar, one of the frontrunners of the opposition to the nuclear power plant, is aware of the prolific real estate business thriving in the area.

"In the last one or two years, there have been a large number of land deals. Certain companies are buying it but the prime movers behind the deals are unknown. We are keeping a watch on all kinds of sales," he said. Reaction to fear?

According to Parulekar, farmers have a good reason to seal deals without hazarding many negotiations and consequences. They fear that the government would take their land away for the nuclear project anyway, and find this a better trade-off, an opportunity to make more money.

"Many farmers are scared that their land would be taken away by the government if the project is given the nod. They feel it's better to sell it off to whoever is buying it, and when they are getting such handsome amounts, they are obviously inclined to sell," said Parulekar.

Nevertheless, he and other activists smell something fishy, and they do not want the farmers to let go of their lands.

"We have been telling the farmers that there is a good possibility that the project would be scrapped or moved because of the widespread protest, so they should hold on to their land and not sell it off out of fear or helplessness," he said.

Political mileage

Meanwhile, the dispute and dissent over the power project in the region has motivated political parties to be seen as champions of people's causes.

On Saturday, Shiv Sena held a massive rally at Jaitapur, with an exhortation to oppose the project tooth and nail.

The Sena, which has lost the Konkan belt to party rebel and Industries Minister Narayan Rane, tried its best to rally people under its banner. Indeed, it succeeded in gathering a congregation of nearly 50,000 people.

Party Executive President Uddhav Thackeray, present at the rally, stressed that his party wouldn't let the project take off in Jaitapur or let Jaitapur turn into another Japan.

Did you know?
Land in the district is being sold at 7 times its market value

3,000acres
Area already sold out of the total 7,000 acres that make up these districts