The Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam's Gandhinagar headquarters in Gujarat saw a group of farmers seize its movable property, including computers and printers, in an effort to collect long-overdue debts as instructed by a civil court.
The Vadodara district farmers donated their land to the state government over 34 years ago for the construction of the Narmada canal, but they haven't yet received full compensation, according to their attorney.
On Saturday, they seized five printers, at least nine CPUs, and an equal number of monitors and printers from the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL). On Monday, social media sites start to post videos of the farmers in action. According to their attorney R D Parmar, a few farmers from the Abhol village in the Padra taluka of the Vadodara district came to the SSNNL's office with an "attachment warrant" that had been issued in their favour by a civil court in Padra earlier this month.
Despite the fact that it has been 34 years since the SSNNL acquired their land, a total of 27 farmers in the Abhol village have not received the full compensation. Farmers were instructed to collect the Nigam's movable property and sell it at auction in order to recoup their debts after the civil court issued an attachment warrant, according to Parmar.
He claimed that on Saturday, farmers raided the SSNNL's office in Gandhinagar's secretariat building and took computers and other peripherals worth close to Rs 3 lakh.
"So far, we have only carried out two warrants. There are 25 more warrants left. If the officials do not pay the compensation of Rs 68.92 lakh, this seizure would continue, Parmar stated.
The responsible department's minister and SSNNL representatives were also unavailable for comment. According to Parmar, the SSNNL purchased the agricultural land of 27 Abhol farmers in 1988 in order to construct the Narmada canal.
"At that time, the SSNNL had consented to pay Rs 1,625 per "arey" (one arey = 100 sq metres) as compensation, per a High Court order. In 2005, the Nigam compensated each of the 27 farmers with Rs 1,400 per "arey" rather than the full amount due. This was Rs 225 less than what the court ruled (Rs 1,625) following litigation, according to Parmar.
"For each farmer, the outstanding balance ranged from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. After 34 years, the balance payable, including interest, is Rs 68.92 lakh. The Padra civil court issued an attachment order in 2019 because SSNNL had shown no interest in paying the compensation, according to Parmar.
He said that earlier in the month, the court had rejected the SSNNL's review appeal and had once more issued attachment warrants, allowing farmers to confiscate the movable property and recoup their debt by selling it.
