Mumbai: A recent survey conducted by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) shows that farmers whose land was acquired for the Nagpur-Mumbai Supercommunication Way, popularly known as the Samruddhi Corridor, have purchased other lands in the vicinity of the corridor with the compensation they received for their land. The MSRDC has, as of now, acquired around 90 per cent land for the project. Around 20 per cent farmers have purchased new land with the solatium, stated the survey.
The MSRDC has conducted a survey into how the compensation was being used by those landowners whose land was acquired for the project. As many as 18 per cent of 6,486 farmers surveyed till now have already invested most of the money in purchasing land in nearby villages, while almost 50 per cent of the remaining farmers have indicated that they too will do the same, officials conducting the survey said.
‘Education’ and ‘supporting the family’ are the other fields of interest for some farmers, while six per cent wish to invest the money in agri-businesses like cotton-weighing machines, tractors, bullocks, digging wells in the farm, drip irrigation, fencing. Another 10 per cent have picked non agri-businesses, like dairies, poultry farms and kirana shop, the survey shows.
Of the survey, 60% farmers have said they received compensation in less than five days, while18% got it in less than 15 days, officials said.
“Acquisition of almost 90% of the total requirement of 8,311 hectares of land for the project has been completed. A total compensation of Rs 6,600 crore has been given to 23,500 owners till date remaining acquisition is likely to be completed very soon,” said Bhushan Gagrani, principal secretary, CMO.
