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| I do not look like this guy, it is just for illustration & page thumbnail |
Over two decades ago, my parents and some family
friends bought land on the outskirts of the city. The land remained untouched
for years until a few years ago when numerous property developers showed
interest in buying the land. We were curious as to why so many parties were
interested in buying at the same time, but eventually, nothing happened.
After a few months, the government announced one of
the biggest construction projects in the state, and we realized why so many
parties had expressed interest in buying our land. Due to our financial
obligations and my unfinished engineering degree, we wanted to sell the land,
but none of the parties who had approached us initially came forward to buy the
land at the last minute.
When the government released the initial plan for
the project, we discovered that our land would fall under the project, and the
market value of the land was lost. We were disappointed, but we had no other
choice but to accept the compensation rate that would be given by the
government.
Later, we heard that the government had changed the
plan, and some lands that were initially part of the project were no longer
included. We made inquiries and found that our land was still part of the
project area.
Confusingly, we heard that the government had changed the plan again, and we made another inquiry, but we found that our land may or may not have gone into the project area. Even the government officials who were responsible for inspecting the land books were unsure about these things, and it was almost impossible to demarcate large acres of open land.
We managed to get all the details of the land with
the survey numbers, and we were finally able to locate the land, but we were
not allowed to demarcate the land area physically. A local strongman objected
to the demarcation, stating that he would not allow any demarcation until there
was clarity in the government's plan, which could state which lands had gone
into the project area and which had not. We could not understand how the
physical demarcation of our land was linked to that issue. As middle-class people,
we could not argue strongly, so we came back without making any demarcations,
but we could now identify the land that belonged to us.
As time passed, the project turned out to be one of the biggest scams, and the opposition leaders even said that it was a bigger scam than Bofors. Despite this, the lands surrounding the project were still a hot topic, and property dealers were hunting for people who owned lands near the project area. However, we were yet to get clarity on our lands, so we decided to visit the local body to get some answers, but it was in vain.
A self-proclaimed leader of some group came to us
and said that this area, including our lands and the surrounding area, had been
donated to economically backward classes by the government, and we did not have
any rights to our land. This was shocking and frustrating.
The controversy over the project came into the
limelight again, and the government passed orders stating that lands in that
area could not be sold or bought. Eventually, the project took off in other
parts of the city's outskirts. We made another visit to our lands and were
shocked to see red flags with hammer and sickle symbols on them. When we
inquired about this, we were told that a few months back, many people who
claimed to be part of an ideology had come and erected flags, claiming that
the whole area should be given to them, and they had admonished that no one
should remove those flags.
I was baffled for obvious reasons.
Finally, we got clarity that our lands are now part of the project area, to get compensation from the Govt we now have to fight a battle, which is still going on..
Check the below points, which justifies the title of the post:
- Initially local Govt officials had no idea about anything.
- Later, Govt officials demanded small bribes just to give information
- Local Goondas obstruct us from our lands (When complained, Govt officials asked us to solve this by ourselves)
- Some so-called leaders said that our lands were donated to some other groups.
- Some assholes erect red flags in our lands and admonish us not to remove them.
- We are being asked to pay bribes/fees to get the Govt compensation.
Finally, we got clarity that our lands were now
part of the project area, and to get compensation from the government, we now
have to fight a battle that is still ongoing. This whole experience has shown
us that being middle class in India is a curse. The project plan was changed
multiple times to suit the rich and influential, and we were constantly asked
for bribes with no results. Despite this, I have developed integrity, honesty,
and some sense of morality due to my middle-class problems.
Update: The Court has granted the compensation.
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