Chhattisgarh farmers refuse to give up land to Patanjali, other companies

Farmers in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district have gone against the state government's decision to take over their land for setting up food park for food-processing companies, including Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurveda, reports said on Friday.

The government had decided to acquire land at Bijetala village at Rs 10 lakh per acre - four times the value of the land. About 100 farmers had agreed to give up their land but 66 refused with a fear of becoming 'landless.'

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between three food processing firms to set up units at an estimated investment of Rs 762 crore in 2017. Out of this, Patajanli had decided to invest Rs 671 crore for setting up a ‘Food and Herbal Processing Unit’ on 500 acres of land, officials informed.

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The company intends to manufacture and process honey, amla juice, aloe vera juice, tomato ketchup, frozen vegetables, rice and pulses in the proposed Chhattisgarh facility.

Reports say that when the plan was initially introduced no one was willing to give the land but after some government intervention, some farmers agreed. Farmers who agreed to give their land said they had to do so as people, who have small land holdings around their land, agreed, “and therefore, I thought I will be stuck as I will not get a path (way) to reach my land”.

Patanjali spokesperson, SK Tijarawala said that this would help farmers and also give farmers a better price for their yield and employment. However, Chhattisgarh Bachaao Andolan and parties like Congress and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh have since carried out protests in opposition to this project.