Congress Questions Leasing Of 1050 Acres Land To Adani In Bihar “Virtually For Free”
New Delhi, September 15: The Congress today questioned the Bihar government’s decision to lease out 1,050 acres land in the state to Gautam Adani for a power plant at a token rent of Rs one per year. The land has been leased for a period of 33 years. The party also referred to the highly exorbitant tariff of Rs 6.075 per unit for power to be produced from this plant, whereas in other states, the tariff from such plants is Rs 3 to Rs 4 per unit fixed.
“Sari Khudai ek taraf, aur Gautam Bhai ek taraf”, remarked Pawan Khera, Chairman of the Media and Publicity Department of the AICC while making these disclosures during a press conference at the party headquarters here today.
Pawan Khera disclosed that the Bihar government has decided to provide this huge parcel of land to Adani in Bhagalpur district for a power plant. He said, not only has the land been arbitrarily snatched away from the villagers and farmers, but the project will also lead to cutting of about ten lakh trees, including mango, sagwan and other fruit trees.
The Congress spokesperson said that originally the power project was to be set up by the government but later it was decided to handover it to private sector. He said, bids were held and not surprisingly, Adani got the contract. “Nobody was surprised, neither Adani nor his competitors who lost the bid, about his (Adani) getting the power project”, he remarked sarcastically.
Khera said, there was a consistent pattern of the BJP and allies favouring Adani with power plants ahead of elections, so that even if the party lost, Adani would already be rehabilitated. He said, this was done in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand also, ahead of elections.
Now in Bihar, he added, the BJP is apprehensive that it may not be able to steal votes to win elections, so it has granted the power project to Adani just ahead of the elections in the same pattern.
The senior Congress leader asserted that people of Bihar are already alert and they will in no case allow the BJP to steal the elections there.
He said, as people were strongly resisting the move to snatch their land, several farmers and villagers were placed under house-arrest ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to Bihar to prevent them from protesting.
Referring to the tariff of Rs 6.075 per unit, Khera said, it was more than double the rate in Maharashtra where it is Rs 3 per unit, and significantly higher than in Uttar Pradesh, where it is Rs 4 per unit. He asked when the land, the coal and other resources belong to Bihar from which the power will be generated, why such a high tariff is being planned for the people of the state.
“This is double loot as first they looted and robbed people of their land and then they will be looting the same people with exorbitant power tariff”, he remarked.
