The Hindu : Only poromboke land will be leased: Jeevanantham

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 15, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Only poromboke land will be leased: Jeevanantham

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai Jan. 14. Amid protests from panchayat chiefs and farmers over the State Government's decision to hand over wasteland in Tamil Nadu to the corporate sector, the Agriculture Minister, R.Jeevanantham, today asserted that only unused poromboke arid land, which is not vested with the local bodies, would be leased out to private companies and cooperative societies.

Talking to the media here, Mr. Jeevanantham said only poromboke land, which was not used for grazing or any other common purpose and non-forest land, had been notified under the wasteland development scheme. Also, only 56,000 ha would be leased out to corporate houses, cooperative societies and federation of self-help groups and not "very vast tracts" as alleged by some panchayat chiefs. Each corporate house would be given only a maximum of 1,000 acres.

Till now, as many as 224 corporate houses, including the Reliance Group and EID Parry, besides 1,373 cooperatives and small companies came forward to take on lease and develop land. While the Reliance Group wants to develop medicinal and aromatic plants, EID Parry sent a proposal for growing neem trees. The State-owned Tamil Nadu Newsprints Ltd. also applied for land for wood pulp. As some of the big companies want more than 500 acres, which were not available in a single block (tract), the district administration was discussing with them the possibility of taking on lease a few pieces of land within the same village or town. For, out the 56,000 ha notified under the scheme, only some pieces of land exceeded 40 ha. As much as 41,598 ha were blocks spanning less than eight hectares.

The Minister said lease agreements would be signed only after a high-level committee, headed by the Chief Secretary, cleared the proposals from companies. The committee held two or three rounds of discussions and the process of selecting the companies was on, he said.

(However, at the Collector's conference recently, the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, directed the district administration to operationalise the scheme by Pongal). Reports from districts indicate that delegations from some corporate houses visited some of the identified tracts and held discussions with the local administration. Till now, there are no specific offers or applications to take on lease any of the pieces of land. Enquiries are more in the Madurai region, particularly in the fertile areas of Dindigul, Theni and Sivaganga.

As for the State's comprehensive watershed development programme of promoting 20 lakh ha in five years, the Minister said drought conditions had come in the way of achieving the targeted growth for this year. While the Government planned to cover 55,000 ha in 10 districts at a cost of Rs. 25 crores, agro-forestry and horticulture could be done only on 19,334 ha.

Under the scheme, the Government would offer Rs. 8,500 per ha to farmers who have patta arid land for growing cashew, guava, lime, neem and other trees. As of now, over 19 lakh saplings had been planted on about 19, 334 ha.

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Only poromboke land will be leased: Jeevanantham