The proposed industrial model townships (IMTs) in Rewari and Mahendragarh districts remain non-starters as a majority of farmers are not willing to give land for the projects despite lucrative incentives announced by the state government.

The Haryana Government plans to develop 10 IMTs across the state as part of its ‘Make in Haryana’ initiative and creating decentralised manufacturing hubs.

The IMTs are proposed to be developed under the state’s new industrial policy which aims to remove bureaucratic hurdles by providing online NOCs and eliminating the need for separate Change of Land Use (CLU) permissions.

The proposed IMTs include one at Palhawas village in Kosli subdivision of Rewari district and another at Khudana village in Mahendragarh district, both of which remain non-starters.

As per a new provision proposed in the state’s industrial policy, the farmers who give their land for the IMTs in the state will get a 50 per cent share in the developed land.

They will also get an amount of Rs 1 lakh per acre per year for about four years while the IMTs are being set up on their land.

Instead of forced acquisition, the government has launched e-Bhoomi portal to buy land from the farmers and the process to acquire land for the IMTs by obtaining consent from the farmers is in progress as of now.

During a farmers’ conclave at Palhawas recently, Haryana Minister for Industries and Commerce Rao Narbir Singh had appealed to the local farmers to give their consent for the acquisition of their land for the IMT on the village land.

“The state government will protect the interests of the farmers while acquiring land for the IMTs,” maintained the minister, adding that the construction of IMTs in south Haryana would bring prosperity to the entire state.

The interested farmers have been asked to apply for this on the e-Bhoomi portal or opt for the land-pooling policy.

As per local sources, the farmers are usually reluctant to give their land owing to revised collector rates and its high market price. They also maintain that acquisition of their land by the government would end their income from agriculture, which is the primary source of livelihood for their families.

“Moreover, agricultural land is usually owned by numerous members of a family. In many cases, the land is owned by some person(s), but it is being cultivated by other(s). Differences amongst them also create hurdles in the grant of consent for acquisition of land,” said Savita, the sarpanch of Palhawas village.

On the other hand, the establishment of an IMT at Khudana village in Mahendragarh district is also stalled for a long time.

Kosli SDM Vijay Yadav said the e-Bhoomi portal would be opened again to obtain the consent of the interested farmers as the requisite number of farmers (75 percent) had not given their consent in the first instance.

The Khudana IMT project, the foundation stone for which was laid by the then Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in February-2019, remains a non-starter to date.

The ambitious project was proposed to be spread on 1,654 acres of land and have a tourism complex as well.

As per official sources, the project, which was supposed to be developed by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), is being delayed due to practical hurdles.

The land required for connecting the IMT to the adjoining highway is owned by local residents, most of whom are not willing to give their land for the project.

Sources maintain that at one point of time, the project was even labelled non-feasible and sent back to the state authorities, but it has not been officially dropped as yet.

A delegation of prominent residents of the village led by veteran BJP leader and former Haryana minister Ram Bilas Sharma had met Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and sought expedition of the stalled projects recently.

The Chief Minister had assured the delegation that the obstacles in the construction of the IMT at Khudana will be resolved forthwith.

The Chief Minister had also ordered the appointment of a nodal officer for the project, following which a coordination committee had also been constituted for the establishment of the IMT at Khudana.

However, no concrete progress has been seen in the project to date.