On Bengal biz summit day, BJP's Suvendu says Deucha coal project closed chapter

As the West Bengal government began a mega business summit to attract investments on Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP led a rally at the Deucha Panchami coal mining project site in Birbhum district in protest against the alleged forcible land acquisition for it.The project is unlikely to see the light of the day as public sentiment is against land acquisition and forcible eviction, Adhikari said.

As the West Bengal government began a mega business summit to attract investments on Wednesday, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP led a rally at the Deucha Panchami coal mining project site in Birbhum district in protest against the alleged forcible land acquisition for it.

The project is unlikely to see the light of the day as public sentiment is against land acquisition and forcible eviction, Adhikari said. The ruling TMC attacked the BJP leader for allegedly misleading the people and maligning the state on the day of the business summit.

West Bengal has been allotted the Deocha Pachami Harinsingha Dewanganj coal block, which is India's largest and the world's second-largest coal block, by the Centre in 2018.

''We will not allow the state government to evict people for the project. After May 8, we would organise a bigger movement in the area against forcible land acquisition and eviction. The project will not see the light of the day. It is a closed chapter,'' Adhikari said. He organised protests at Deucha along with 10 other BJP MLAs and hundreds of supporters and threatened that the party will launch an agitation that will be bigger than what Nandigram and Singur had seen during the later part of the erstwhile Left Front government. Those movements were organised against forcible land acquisition for industrial projects by the TMC when Adhikari was in that party.

The protest against the coal mine project came on a day when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hosted industry tycoons at the Bengal Global Business Summit to woo investors from across the globe in Kolkata.

A platform, Birbhum-Jami-Jiban-Jibika O Prakriti Banchao Mahasabha (BJJJPBM), has been holding protests and sit-ins for the last few months in the area against the project. Located in Muhammad Bazar in Birbhum district, Deucha Panchami is spread over around 3400 acres.

The ruling TMC slammed Adhikari for organising the protest on the day of the business summit.

''The sole intention of the protest during the business summit was to malign the state government. At Deucha, there has been no forcible land acquisition or eviction. It is a stated policy of the TMC government that we are against forcible land acquisition,'' TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

The chief minister had held a meeting with the protestors of the Deucha project at the state secretariat last week.

The state government has firmed up a relief and rehabilitation package of Rs 10,000 crore for those who would lose their land for the coal mining project. The package offers double the market value of the land to a consenting landowner. It has increased the built-up area of individual houses to be provided to all the families in model RR colonies to 700 sq ft from 600 sq ft. The compensation in lieu of a built-up house has been increased from Rs five lakh per family to Rs seven lakh. The subsistence allowance for each family has been increased to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs one lakh.

The initial package provided for one employment for one member of every family as a junior police constable. However, in the revised package, those with higher qualifications will be given a higher grade posting in the police service or an equivalent posting in other departments. There are 12 villages in the area with around 4,314 households and a population of 21,033. Of the total area, the government owns 100 acres, of which 300 acres is forest land.