Reliance's new package for SEZ-hit farmers

Reliance Industries Limited has chalked out a novel scheme to compensate and rehabilitate the displaced people from Special Economic Zone areas the company is developing.

As per the new resettlement and rehabilitation plan, Reliance has now decided to pay farmers and land-owners in SEZ notified areas till perpetuity, meaning compensation in regular installments for a lifetime.

This will be in addition to giving employment to at least one member from the family from the SEZ-displaced areas.

Senior officials associated with the Reliance SEZ plans said that the company is chalking out implementing a project with the farmers where it would pay them a certain part of the land price as a token. Then on, Reliance will pay the farmers a monthly sum of money for lifetime.

In case of the death of the displaced farmers, their heirs would continue to get the money.

Recently, senior Reliance officials gave a presentation on this innovative scheme to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, chairperson

of the empowered group of ministers on SEZs.

Reliance's biggest project is the Maha-Mumbai SEZ project, where land is being acquired at an average Rs 5 lakh per acre.

Here, officials said, the company will pay Rs 5,000 per month to the farmer till perpetuity rather than paying the entire amount upfront. This amount will be significantly higher in case of Haryana SEZ, at about Rs 20,000 per month.

Reliance has also decided to tie up with leading banks like HDFC and ICICI to educate the SEZ-displaced farmers on sensible investment options. As per the tie up, the banks will hire local pointspersons in villages to update the farmers with land deals and convince sellers to sensibly invest the money.

Reliance has told the empowered group of ministers that the resettlement plan for farmers is to ensure that villages and the SEZ co-exist and that farmers benefit much more when they actually sell the land.