Dehradun, February 22
Almost a year after the decision of the Uttarakhand government to withdraw land acquisition in 30 villages of Dehradun after the much-touted Greater Dehradun project was abandoned, all those who lost their agricultural land and again got it back are still experiencing acquisition jitters.

The state land acquisition office has threatened punitive action again those who fail to return back the compensation amount along with interest at the earliest.

Ever since Dehradun was made interim capital, there has been a growing demand for the much-needed infrastructure in the region.

To meet the demand, the then ND Tiwari government decided on Greater Dehradun project and land in 30 villages on the periphery of Dehradun city was acquired.

The project, right from the takeoff stage, was mired in controversies with stiff opposition by people whose land was acquired as well as political parties, including the then ruling Congress.

It was in the months of Sept-Oct, 2002, that the Uttarakhand government started acquiring land in 30 villages in Majra and Raipur areas.

This led to a long- drawn agitation involving a series of dharnas and protest programmes with affected peasants running pillar to post to safeguard their land.

An adamant Congress Urban Development Minister then looked more inclined to carrying out the acquisition despite the protests.

It was in the run-up to the 2007 assembly elections that the then Uttarakhand Chief Minister, realising the mistake, released the land except in case of six villages.

The Bharatiya Janata Party made it a poll issue and promised to release all land
if voted to power. After it come to power, Chief Minister Khanduri released the
remaining land.

But jubilation was shortlived with the Mussoorie-Dehra Development Authority, that had sought the land for its business prepositions, demanding the return of the amount it had provided as compensation to farmers whose land it had now returned and that too with interest.

The authority said it had taken loan from HUDCO for the projects that had to come on the acquired land. The poor peasants seem to be in a dilemma once again.

Ramesh Berry, whose land was acquired, questions the government decision to seek back the amount with 12 per cent interest.

“They can’t realise the interest on compensation. Hundreds of peasants today face the threat of their land being taken over if they do not return the interest amount,” he points out. Berry has written to the Supreme Court seeking justice.

He accuses the land acquisition department of being hand in glove with land mafia.

“It was a government decision to acquire the land in lieu of compensation, from which it backtracked. As a responsible citizen, I obeyed the government and suffered,” he says.

Berry argues that by accepting the compensation amount and not resorting to anti-land protests, he had been a loser all the way.

But the department has its own reasons. It says once the land has been released of the acquisition process, peasants who had taken the compensation amount must return the money with interest.

“Once the land has been released, it is the moral duty of the peasants to return back the compensation amount, particularly when there are many who accepted the compensation amount and then sold off the land to a third party,” authorities say.

Land acquisition sources reveal that in the last few months as much as Rs 1 crore has been received by the department as part of the amount returned by peasants.

But Berry questions the acquisition department’s contention saying his appeal to the department to provide him with a list of peasants asked to return the amount with interest has found little support with the department.

Significantly, if the land acquisition department asks the tehsil for attachment, the interest on the compensation amount may go as high as 22.5 per cent.

There are some peasants who after accepting the compensation amount have sold the land to trespassers to double the financial benefits.

An office-bearer of the Bhoomi Bachao Sangarh Samiti, the organisation that has been at the forefront against land acquisition, admits this fact.

But Berry accuses the land acquisition department of helping trespassers.

“The government deliberately allowed trespass on my land to make the matter complicated and despite a notice, it has made no effort to remove tresspassers,” he says, adding that while the land acquisition office took the land from him free of any encumbrance, it now wants to return it to him after making it “disputed”.

When contacted, Land Acquisition officer H Pandey said the peasants had started returning the compensation amount with interest and they had collected Rs 50 lakh the in past few days.

The Mussoorie-Dehra Development Authority, that has been the biggest loser in the episode, now wants its money back.

It says it has been left with no land to carry forward projects and wants its money back. The authority had taken loan to the tune of Rs 60 to 70 crore from HUDCO.

Now left with no land, the authority plans to directly approach farmers and purchase the land on the market price to start its proposed projects.

While the admissions were made in the government colleges in October, the
process was completed in February, 2008, in the case of eight government run
self-financed institutes.

Dehradun, February 22
An active participant in several agitations and movements, Comrade Kamla
Ram Nautiyal has narrated all his experiences in his book titled ‘Mera Jeevan
Mera Sangharsh.’

The book was released today by the chief guest Vidya Sagar Nautiyal, former MLA, communist party leader and a writer.

Vidya Sagar Nautiyal said the writer has managed to bring alive the events of the 70s and 80s, in which he was personally involved.

The Uttarakhand Information Commissioner, Dr RS Tolia said he could still vividly recall the Tiloth agitation in which the author Kamala Ram Nautiyal had participated.

The book has been published by Winsar Publications and has been edited by
Madhu Nautiyal Thapliyal.

Mussoorie, February 22
While hill resorts like Darjeeling (completed in 1881) and Shimla (completed in 1903) have completed 100 years of railway, Mussoorie railways remains a distant dream.

The British had visualised a rail link in Mussoorie way back in 1896 but that remains a dream unfulfilled even after over 60 years of Independence.

Residents of this idyllic hill-town can only boast of some broken rail tracks and remains of old railway tunnels.

According to historian Gopal Bhardwaj, in 1896, prior to the advent of rail in Dehradun, the British had planned a Haridwar-Rajpur-Mussoorie railway track.

“Such was the importance of Mussoorie that the British planned to set up a
track from Haridwar to Mussoorie via Harrawala and Rajpur, bypassing Dehradun,”
informs Bhardwaj.

Records with Bhardwaj indicate that owing to opposition from the adminisration and business men from Dehradun, it was decided to link Haridwar and Dehradun first.

“The proposal to link Mussoorie with Haridwar was shelved and subsequently a rail track between Haridwar and Dehradun sanctioned on November 18, 1896,” informs Bhardwaj. This rail line was subsequently opened on March 1, 1900.

Records suggest that the then Municipal Board of Mussoorie reinitiated the plan for a rail line around 1912 and subsequently availability of funds for construction and electricity for operating the railway were explored. But the proposal received a setback due to the outbreak of the World War-I.

Finally, in 1921 efforts were made to set up an electric tramway between Rajpur and Mussoorie and a public limited company was floated.

Bhardwaj informs that the “Dehradun-Mussoorie Electric Tramway Company was set up in 1921 with a share capital of Rs 36 lakh for undertaking railway construction.”

Says Bhardwaj: “This company was promoted by a business man by the name of Belti Shah Gilani and a large number of people invested money in this company.”

Records indicate that Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha (Punjab) was a major shareholder in this company with an investment of about Rs 10 lakh.

This electric railway was to link Rajpur to Mussoorie via Jharipani and Barlowgunj. The duration of the journey was projected to be two hours.

“It was to terminate at Himalaya Club in Mussoorie, which was a famous hotel of the time,” informs Bhardwaj. It was expected to be functional by 1924-25. he adds.

However, work was never completed and the project was abandoned in 1925.

The failure of the company to construct tunnels near Jharipani (due to instable rock composition), political unrest and the alleged misappropriation of funds by company officials are regarded as the factors which led to the failure of this project.

In fact, records suggest that the promoter of the company was convicted for misappropriation and, perhaps, imprisoned.

“Old-timers would speak nostalgically about the Dehradun-Mussoorie Electric Tramway Company and refer to promoter Belti Shah as Guilty Shah,” says Bhardwaj.

Remains of the work are visible between Jharipani and Rajpur on the old Mussoorie- Rajpur pathway.

One can see rusty pieces of rail tracks and gloomy remains of old tunnels, remnants of a dream shattered.

The remains make one think that why cannot the Indian government, with
advanced technology at its disposal, accomplish today what the British had
attempted a century ago.