MUMBAI: Death of Dhule farmer Dharma Patil became a political toll for the opposition Congress-NCP and thr ruling BJP on Monday with both the sides targetting each other.
While the Congress demanded that a case of murder be registered against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the NCP blamed it on local BJP minister Jayprakash Rawal accusing him of being a land-mafia. The BJP on other hand came to with documents to show that all the decisions regarding compensation were made during the previous UPA government in the state while NCP's Ajit Pawar was power minister. The government, meanwhile said that a revaluation of the land acquired for the power project will be conducted and a revised compensation will be given to the kin of the deceased within a month.
Dharma Pati, the 84-year-old farmer from the Vikhran village of Dhule district in North Maharashtra, had tried to commit suicide at Mantralaya (the state secretariat) on January 22 by consuming poison. He succumbed to death while undergoing treatment at the state-run sir JJ Hopsital here late on Sunday night.
Dharma's five-acre land was acquired for the Dondaicha thermal power project in 2014. He was given compensation of around Rs 4 lakh. He was upset with the compensation amount as, according to him, his neighbour received over Rs 1 crore in compensation for a similar piece of land. He was following up the issue with the officers at the state administrative headquarters for past three months. He had came to Mantralaya to meet Chief Minister Fadnavis on January 22. But, the CM was at Davos for the World Economic Forum that day. When he saw no hope, Dharma consumed some poisonous chemical. He was immediately rushed to the state-run JJ hospital and was undergoing treatment till last night.
The state government had offered Rs 15 lakh ex-gratia last week. But, the family had refused it saying that they want adequate compensation for their acquired land and nothing else. The family members also staged a protest outside the hospital today and said that they won't take the body till they get a written assurance regarding compensation. Power Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that decision regarding compensation for all the acquired land of the project would be reevaluated and all the difference would be paid to the Dharma's family would be paid within a month along with interest.
Irrigation minister Girish Mahajan and tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal who hails from the same district met the Patil family members at the hospital and convinced them to carry on with the last rites.
The opposition meanwhile came down heavily against the BJP government over the issue.
"This is a murder committed by the government. A case needs to be registered against the government under section 302 of the IPC," said state Congress chief Ashok Chavan.
The NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik trained his guns on tourism minister Rawal. "Rawal is a land mafia. He has purchased a land in the same area after the compensation was finalised in 2012. He needs to be thrown out of the state cabinet and an inquiry needs to be initiated," said Malik while producing papers of change of title.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde said despite the farmer killing himself in Mantralaya, "the government did not feel like giving him justice. Only this government is to be blamed for the farmer's death."
Leader of opposition in Legislative Assembly and Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said the farmer died due to "the government apathy and the anti-farmer policies. The government is yet to wake up even after thousands of farmers have ended their lives."
Rawal, on the other hand, said that as an opposition MLA it was he who started raising voice against the proposed project since 2009 which actually fetched fair price of land for the farmers. He too came out with records that showed how the process for finalising compensation was conducted during the UPA regimen while Ajit Pawar was the Power Minister.
"The then ruling party objected to Rawal's intervention saying that he does not possess any land in the area. Hence I transferred a piece of my land to his name in 2012," said Shankar Girase whose land is allegedly purchased by Rawal.