Villagers stage a roadblock in protest against the arrest of farmers at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur on Monday. Picture by Amit Kumar

Kahalgaon (Bhagalpur), July 2: Farmers literally took to the street after their leaders were arrested last night for allegedly protesting against the district administration’s “unacceptable land acquisition deal”, casting a shadow on the proposed mega food park and handloom park at the Industrial Growth Centre (IGC).

IGC is an ambitious project of Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada).

The Kahalgaon police raided Babangama hamlet on Sunday around 9.45pm and nabbed farmers’ leaders — Randhir Yadav, Manoj Yadav, Dinesh Tanti, Tuntun Yadav and Nirmal Yadav — for their alleged involvement in 14 cases related to Biada land dating back to 2008. Agitated over the development, villagers blocked the National Highway 80 near Babangama village from Sunday night. Till filing of the report, hundreds squatted on the highway near the village near the Biada’s project.

The highway connects Lakhisarai with Farakka (Bengal). Serpentine queues of trucks and other vehicles could be seen on both flanks of Babangama village.

K.S. Anupam, the Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police, said all the arrested persons were wanted in 14 cases related to Biada since 2008. “Persons involved in the Biada case in which the farmers manhandled the police and the district officials were arrested. No one involved in such cases would be spared,” Anupam said.

The arrests, the farmers claimed, were the fallout of the June 30 meeting between the district officials and farmers, whose plots were earlier acquired by Biada. The meeting failed to yield any result.

Sanjay Kumar, the sub-divisional officer of Kahalgaon, said on June 30 the divisional commissioner of Bhagalpur, Minhaz Alam, convened a meeting with the landowners. Only those owners whose lands were earmarked for new projects were invited to the meeting. But several other farmers whose lands were acquired by Biada for setting up the IGC more than a decade ago also barged into the meeting.

Kumar said: “The farmers whose land compensation claims were settled long ago are now demanding compensation in accordance with the current market rates. Alam clearly told them that fulfilling their demands will not be possible because the law does not allow any one to resettle the compensation for lands already acquired.”

The sub-divisional officer said a few farmers had already moved the high court in favour of their demands and started pressurising the administration to take initiative for the settlement of their compensation. “But how is it possible when the matter is in the court?” Kumar asked.

But Rajiv Kumar, a resident of Anadipur village, alleged that the administration tried to suppress the voices of the farmers. According to him, between 1999 and 2004, farmers whose lands were acquired got compensation of Rs 76,000 to Rs 4 lakh per acre from the government. The farmers moved the high court after they were paid so less.

“Through these five arrests, the administration is taking a revenge against the farmers,” Rajiv said.

On the other hand, after pressure from entrepreneurs (many have left Kahalgaon after the district administration failed to handover them the allotted lands at IGC), the state government had asked the Bhagalpur administration to find an amicable solution immediately.

The entrepreneurs blamed the lackadaisical attitude of the government for not giving possession of allotted land for so long.

“The administration is completely responsible for the land problem. Because of this uncertainty, several companies like Amrit Cement have left Kahalgaon. The recent problem would certainly hamper the prospect of Keventer’s mega food park project,” said Mukutdhari Agarwala, the chairman of Eastern Bihar Industrial Association, a body of industrialists here.

After the problem spiralled out of hand, Bihar chief secretary Navin Kumar has decided to discuss the issue through video conferencing with the officials concerned this week. Even during Nitish Kumar’s Seva Yatra here on May 30, the chief minister had strictly instructed officials to make way for the entrepreneurs so that the industrial hub could be set up.