AAP terms Haryana Govt’s e-Bhoomi policy a land grab scam

Senior AAP leader and national nedia incharge, Anurag Dhanda, yesterday launched a sharp attack on the Haryana BJP government’s newly introduced “e-Bhoomi” land pooling policy, terming it a “scam-driven conspiracy to snatch farmers’ lands”.

Addressing a press conference here, Dhanda alleged the policy was crafted to benefit BJP leaders and their corporate allies at the expense of small cultivators.

“Under this policy, over 35,000 acres of agricultural land will be acquired from farmers. But 95% of them — those who own less than 10 acres — are excluded from any direct participation,” he claimed.

Dhanda said the government has given a free hand to middlemen to purchase land from small farmers at undervalued circle rates, only to pass it on to corporations at much higher prices. Farmers, he added, will neither retain any ownership nor get any share in the projects developed on their land.

“They will only receive a one-time compensation at the circle rate, which is three to four times lower than the actual market value. No developed plots or portions will be returned to them,” Dhanda alleged.

He further pointed out that the 2013 Land Acquisition Act guarantees farmers four times the market rate, but the Haryana Government has capped it at a maximum of three times the circle rate — and even that, he said, is not assured.

Calling the government’s incentive to middlemen “shocking,” Dhanda said, “The government has promised a cash reward of Rs 3,000 per acre to brokers who bring land deals at circle rates — essentially incentivising exploitation.”

He also charged that farmers have been stripped of their right to negotiate prices. “If a farmer quotes a rate higher than what the government fixes, the committee can simply reject it,” he said.

Accusing Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s Cabinet of “deliberately punishing and dispossessing small farmers,” Dhanda said the policy makes no mention of rehabilitation for landless farm labourers, whose livelihoods depend on the acquired fields. “They are being completely ignored despite total reliance on these agricultural ecosystems,” he added.