After uprooting 15-year regime of BJP, Congress has got busy in deepening its own roots in Chhattisgarh through such populist as well as bold measures.
India Tomorrow
Raipur, Dec 25: The newly-elected Congress government in Chhattisgarh has announced to return land acquired from tribal farmers in Bastar district for a Tata Steel project which did not materialise. This is the second big announcement by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel after he assumed office last week after his party dethroned the 15-year regime of BJP in a landslide victory in the Assembly polls. His first announcement was about waiver of farmers’ loan.
In its poll manifesto, the Congress had promised both loan waiver and land return among others. Regarding land return, it had promised that in case of projects which failed to take off within five years of land acquisition, the land would be returned to their owners.
On Monday, CM Baghel tweeted that as Congress president Rahul Gandhi had promised to return land of farmers in 10 villages in Bastar district, he (Baghel) has ordered officials to prepare proposal for the same.
In his first cabinet meeting on Dec 17, Baghel had announced to waive loans worth Rs 6100 crore of 16.5 lakh farmers.
.@RahulGandhi जी ने बस्तर में टाटा इस्पात संयंत्र के लिए 10 गांवों के किसानों की अधिग्रहित जमीन वापस दिलाने का वादा किया था।
उनकी जमीन वापस दिलाने के लिए अधिकारियों को मंत्री परिषद की आगामी बैठक में प्रस्ताव लाने के निर्देश दे दिए गए हैं।
कर्ज भी चुकाएंगे और फर्ज भी निभाएंगे।
— Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) December 24, 2018
The previous BJP government had acquired 1,764 hectares of land from the farmers in the 10 villages for a Tata Steel project in 2008. However, the project did not start even after 10 years. According to The Indian Express, in 2005, the then BJP government had signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Steel for a Rs 19,500-crore integrated steel plant in Lohandiguda area of Bastar district.
