A group of farmers and a rights body of India have accused India’s Adani Group of conducting illegal acquisition of farmland to set up power transmission lines to supply power to Bangladesh through West Bengal state of India.
They filed public interest litigation (PIL) with the division bench of Calcutta High Court in India recently challenging the alleged illegal acquisition of farmland at Murshidabad district’s Farakka, according to Telegraph India.
The petitioners — Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and 38 farmers of Dadontala village of Murshidabad district —want the high court division bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava to halt work of installing power transmission lines as they believe the project would harm mango and litchi plantations and be a health hazard.
They also alleged that the power transmission towers of the company in Farakka in Murshidabad district were constructed without paying due compensation for land
“When did work to install power transmission lines start?” Chief Justice Srivastava asked the petitioners’ counsel during a hearing on Tuesday.
When the lawyer said installation was on for the past few months, the Chief Justice said: “Why did you not file the case then?”
The petitioners’ lawyer claimed villagers did protest but police brutality forced them to move court. The Chief Justice then fixed February 20 for the hearing and asked the petitioners to meanwhile serve notices to all respondents, including the Adani Group, state and central governments.
Later, the division bench of Calcutta High Court asked petitioners to serve copies of their petition to all respondents. The bench fixed the matter for hearing on February 20 dismissing a plea seeking a fast-track hearing of the petition.
The Adani Group intends to supply power to Bangladesh from its power plant at Godda in Jharkhand. To supply power to Bangladesh from Godda, the Adani group is setting up transmission poles at Dadontala village in Murshidabad, where it is facing resistance from owners of land acquired for the project.
The most recent clash in connection with the demonstrations against the Adani transmission towers occurred in Farakka last week, where because of protests, the 84thpillar of the project could not be installed.
Petitioners, including farmers Mushtaq Sheikh,35, and Mahmud Ali, 45, both mango and litchi farmers who lost trees to land acquisition, argued that the value of the land acquired included the value of trees and lost opportunity cost.