A villager in Indarmathi points to his land that has been acquired by the Subarnarekha Multi-purpose Project. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Jan. 9: It?s a phantom from the past that threatens to undo the state government?s ambitious plans and question its credibility.

At the heart of the matter are just two small cottahs of land at Indarmathi, 30 kilometres from the steel city. Sons of Ishwar Mahato, a deceased villager, claim that they were offered just Rs 400 in 1982 and asked to vacate their house for the construction of the left bank canal. The market price of the two cottahs even in 1982, they pointed out, would have been closer to Rs 25,000.

While the family shifted to the other house they had in the village, they refused to accept the compensation offered. The plot nevertheless was taken over by the Subarnarekha Multipurpose Project. Mahato allegedly kept running from pillar to post for a higher compensation but died without receiving anything. His sons too have approached the chief minister, the leader of the Opposition and now Salkhan Murmu in turn. Emboldened by the resistance being put up by tribals in West Singhbhum and across the border in Orissa, they have joined hands with fellow villagers to stop work of the project.

Leader of the Opposition Sudhir Mahato told The Telegraph on Monday that he was indeed aware of the ?case?. He had taken it up with SMP authorities, he claimed, and the earlier administrator, M.K. Mandal, had even visited the site with him.

But the present authorities at the SMP appear to have no clue. ?It is an old case, 23 years old and it was the Bihar government which dealt with it then,? is a reply that Ishwar Mahato?s sons have been receiving for years and this same reply was offered to The Telegraph.

The case has been considerably weakened by the failure of Mahato?s sons to produce the ?notice? or the ?offer letter? which allegedly mentioned the figure of Rs 400 as compensation for the two cottahs. Tragically for Mahato?s sons, people giving up their land after the creation of Jharkhand are actually receiving much more.

SMP of late has been offering a compensation of Rs 2 lakh, a government job and Rs 25,000 to build a dwelling unit to each displaced family in addition to the cost of the land.

What is intriguing is that three of the villagers actually claim to have received the ?Vikas Pustika?, which records the compensation paid, last month, 23 years after their land was acquired.

Somay Besra and Kasu Besra claimed to have knocked the doors of the high court when they were denied the Vikas Pustika and the promised government job. In January 2004, they claimed, the high court directed SMP authorities to deal with the case expeditiously and inform the petitioners within three months if they are entitled to the benefits. ?So far, we have not heard anything from them,? they said today.

The government?s inability to search old records and failure to either call the villagers? bluff or decide that their grievance is genuine is taking a toll.

Twenty-one more families in the same village nurse similar complaints. Four of them had to give up their houses while others had to sacrifice agricultural land. They claim they were promised much more as compensation than they actually received.

Dasrath Murmu claims to have received Rs 22,500 for 3.27 acres of agricultural land while Manmatha Mahto of the same village allegedly received only Rs 12,000 for his three-acre plot. Surely the quality of the land cannot fluctuate so wildly in the same village, they wonder. The question hangs in the air.