BARMER (RAJASTHAN): For Sonaram Chaudhary, life hasn't changed much. Except that his camel cart has been replaced by a Mahindra Scorpio and his bank account boasts of a deposit of Rs 3 crore. A small-time farmer in Kapurdi hamlet, 30 km from Barmer district, Rajasthan, Chaudhari still enjoys his puff of beedi and his usual shot of 'desi' drink at his ancestral house.
Chaudhary is one of the 1,500 farmers in and around Kapurdi and Sondri villages of Barmer whose bank balances swelled to eight digits.
SUVs appeared outside their houses after oil major Cairn India and two other companies bought 54,000 bighas of their land. More landowners could join them.
A Cairn-Vedanta deal, which is finally close to consummation, will expedite the setting up of an oil refinery in the vicinity.
The Rajasthan government has identified 7,200 bighas of land for the project and expressed its willingness to pick up 26% in it.
If it materialises, it will mark the final contour of one of the state's most ambitious projects and pump in more moolah into Barmer's simmering economy. The economic boom triggered by the land sale in these sleepy, dusty villages, which started with Cairn in 2004, is shifting to a higher trajectory involving two other industrial projects.
The first is the 1,080 MW power project by Jindal's Raj West Power.
The second is the lignite-mining arm of Raj West, Barmer Lignite Mining Corporation (BLMC), a joint venture with state-owned mining company Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals. Both are fuelling wealth creation by acquiring large stretches of irrigated and unirrigated land across Kapurdi, Jalipa and Sonadi villages.
The Origin of Money
This wealth creation is, however, restricted to a few landowners.
The disparity can be gauged from the per capita income of the people in Barmer, which was just Rs 8,932 in 1999-2000; even in 2006-07, it was only Rs 13,224.
Their net worth aside, nothing much has changed even for these overnight millionaires, whose aspirations stop at owning a four-wheeler and a tractor. "We are losing our roots for money. If we spend it recklessly, we will be uprooted," says Chaudhary.
Lifestyle Remains Despite Cash Flow
"The moment a farmer gets his share of acquisition award, he returns home on a SUV. The other thing he does is buy property. The lifestyle, however, remains the same."
The sandy and porous soil of Barmer is not suited for agriculture, and water is scarce here. But companies want this land. The Rajasthan government has acquired 54,000 bighas of irrigated and non-irrigated land for Cairn India, Raj West Power and BLMC, paying Rs 1,100 crore to farmers.
It plans to acquire another 2,800 bighas for the power project. In addition, Cairn India intends to acquire 400-500 bighas for operational expansion and, if the refinery takes shape, another 7,200 bighas. "There were no takers before these projects," says land acquisition officer Mahendra Singh. "Now, land is money in Barmer."
Property Boom
Stretched across the Thar Desert, Barmer was dismissed as the 'dust bowl' of Rajasthan. In January 2004, Cairn India, an arm of the UK oil exploration company, struck oil in the Mangala fields, about 40 km from Barmer, and changed its fate.
Cairn India has acquired about 6,500 bighas of land and invested $1.8 billion in the oilfields. Its presence in Barmer is spread over 3,111 sq km, with an estimated potential of 6.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent to the three oil fields of Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya. The company forecasts that at their peak production of 175,000 barrels a day, they will account for about 20% of India's crude oil.
The oil discovery, the largest onshore discovery in India in about 20 years, has created an oasis in the ocean of sands. Besides creating job opportunities for locals, the oil project changed the rules of the property business in Barmer city.
Cairn-Vedanta deal, power projects transform Rajasthan's 'du
CA ADITYA SHARMA (CA IN PRACTICE ) (16719 Points)
02 July 2011
CAclubindia
