Karnataka possesses enormous natural resources in the form of forests, rivers and minerals. The state’s bane, for a long time, has been the power crisis and the problems in power generation.
While the state has been traditionally drawing electricity from hydel and thermal plants, it is now moving towards renewable energy like wind for power generation.
The government has made plans to improve generation from all sources and wind power generation systems have been accepted as the only long-lasting solution to the scarcity.
The first wind power generation turbine in Karnataka was installed in Gadag district 1996. The Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited has approved that the velocity of wind in the district was suitable for wind power generation.
The NEPC India Ltd installed the first turbine in Kappattagudda near Nagavi village. Now, there are 550 turbines, which have been installed by companies like Enercon, Suzlon and Victor.
After 15 years, this region has emerged as the state’s major wind energy generation hub. But hundreds of the farmers have lost their fertile lands for these projects. The farmers have not been compensated fairly for the loss of their valuable lands, but the middlemen have allegedly grown rich by exploiting them (farmers).
All’s not well
Most of the farmers in this region handed over their lands to the wind generation companies on the basis of “promissory notes”. Few of them sold their lands to middlemen — referred to as “representatives” by the companies — who are not employees of the companies setting up the turbines.
These representatives were either real estate developers or political activists who acquired land from the farmers and sold it to the companies.
Most of the farmers never met the company officials or discussed the land transfer or compensation with them. The representatives
signed agreements with the farmers and decided the land prices by themselves.
The farmers sold their lands at rates ranging between `2 lakh and `4 lakh per acre to the middlemen.
The latter converted the agriculture land into non-agricultural land and handed it over to the companies procuring the land for the project in this
region.
Rudragowda Patil, a farmer of Nagavi, said he was unhappy with this sytem.
“They (companies) pay the money and acquire land. We lose the land that is more valuable than the cash they give us,” he said. “If I sold the land, what would be our next generation’s future?”
He said the companies offered ` 3 lakh to `4 lakh, “but the real value of land is much more”.
Companies have no right to purchase land
The companies and the farmers are in no way connected since the former haven’t purchased the land directly. The companies have adopted a peculiar method of procuring the land to avoid trouble with the Land Reforms Act, 1976.
They use the “representatives” for conversion of the land to non-agricultural.
Harsha, a marketing officer of Enercon, said the companies identified the land and their representatives purchase it from the farmers.
“The representative converts the agriculture land into non-agricultural,” he said. “Though the companies can’t purchase agricultural land, they procure it through representatives who are also farmers.”
The question arises on how the representative, who is neither an employee of the company or the owner of the land, makes the agreement for land procurement for the project.
All in cash
The farmers were paid in cash since they did not have bank accounts, PAN cards or other required documents for such huge monetary transactions.
Harsha, a marketing officer of Enercon, said farmers always wanted cash. “They are always in financial distress. So, they ask for the compensation amount in cash only,” he said. “This is the reason why we have made payments in cash.”
Many claimed they have been shortchanged in the process.
Rajesab Karatagi, farmer of Kalasapur village, holds a promissory note on plot survey number 71 with a “representative” of Enercon. It was made in 2007. The turbine is generating power now, but the sale deed is still pending.
Also, farmers who denied to sell their land to the middlemen are “taken care of” by them.
The Tamil Nadu example
In the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, the same companies have been conducting their businesses in a different manner. There, the farmers are partners in the project. The land has been taken on lease by the companies.
The farmers have leased out their one acre plots to the companies for `20 lakh for 20 years. The lease agreement has to be renewed after 20 years.
No tax, no land
Village Panchayat Committees of Gadag taluk have fixed a tax on wind turbines.
Rehman Sab Nadaf, vice-president of Nagavi village panchayat committee, said: “We had fixed `1 per square feet of land as tax. And notices were issued to all companies stating that permission from the committees was mandatory to set up wind turbines.”
From 1999 till 2007, these companies paid taxes regularly as per the guidelines of the committees. But the companies have reportedly not paid a single rupee as tax in the last three years.
Nadaf said in some cases companies acquired land from farmers forcefully and stopped paying taxes.
Threat to birds, crops
“Wind energy may be a permanent solution for electricity crisis but the turbines installed on agricultural land are a threat to the bird population,” said L R Hiregouder, a well-known agricultural scientist of KHP Krishi Vijnan Kendra of Hulkoti.
He said the turbines make a noise and increase the speed of wind in the area. “Birds get hit by the blades and are killed,” he said. “In Gadag taluk and surrounding areas, we cannot see a single bird. But once upon a time, Kappattagudda was the favourite spot for birds.”
Power to farmers
Former Law minister H K Patil urged the state and Union governments to make changes in the wind energy policy.
“It seems the current policy is against farmers and against development. It is pro-investor and pro-rich and a curse on the farming community,” he said.
He said he corresponded with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Power Minister Sushilkumar Shindhe on making the farmers (land owners) partners in the projects. “They should get royalty annually for the land,” he said, adding that “hopefully an appropriate
policy would framed shortly”.