Tales of Prosperity of the Beneficiaries: Ahmednagar

After willingly consenting to giving their land for the Samruddhi Project, the various landowners from 10 districts executed their land deals with the MSRDC. Once the landowners received the compensation amount from the direct purchase scheme in their respective bank accounts through RTGS, how and where is the money is now being utilized? This is a brief review of such “Samruddha” stories – meaning “Tales of Prosperity” of some of the beneficiaries in Ahmednagar.

Bhimaji Hon of Chandekasare village and Nanasaheb Gaikwad of Ghari village in Kopargaon taluka in Ahmednagar district are among the many beneficiaries of the Samruddhi Project.

Bhimaji owned a total of 1.54 hectares of farmland. His farmland came with a big well as well as supply of bore water. He would cultivate crops like sugarcane, soybean, gram, maize, wheat etc. However, he was worried about the fact that the land wasn’t getting him a decent income despite it being a Bagayati land. Bhimaji’s family includes his four daughters and a son. He had taken up a loan for his daughters’ marriages, their education and for his farm, but he was facing difficulties in repaying the same. In this kind of a negative situation, he found out about the Samruddhi Mahamarg project. Due to the initiative, prices of farmlands in the surrounding areas had gone up. Once he was convinced that he would receive fair compensation for his land, he willingly decided to give up his land for the project. 1.09 hectares out of a total of 1.54 hectares of his farmland was utilized for the Samruddhi scheme. Bhimaji tells us that he received a compensation of ₹80.86 lakhs. He repaid his loan from the compensation money received. He is relieved now that his daughters are married. Even his son got married recently. He works in a company in Nashik. Since the place in close to Shirdi, the rates for land along the road are as high as ₹1 crore/acre. Hence, he plans to buy around 3 acres of land situated a little closer and away from the road. Once the dust around the increased prices of land settles down, he plans to start again with increased gusto. His only target is to purchase farmland, and Bhimaji is excited about achieving it.

Just like Bhimaji, Nanasaheb Gaikwad’s land is going to be utlised for the Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg Project. Nanasaheb owned an ancestral piece of farmland. He has a family of six – Nanasaheb, his mother, his wife and their three children. He would cultivate sugarcane, onion, wheat, jowar in his 10 acre land. His annual income would be decided based upon the respective year’s rates for the yield in the market. The estimated annual income would come to around ₹2.5-3 lakhs. Since this income was insufficient, he supplemented it by venturing into the milk business. Around 31 gunthas of his land was going to be utilized for the Samruddhi Mahamarg, for which Nanasaheb received a compensation of ₹32.46 lakhs. He is determined to use the compensation amount to purchase land at a better location. He tells us that he will give priority to a land which is fertile and has sufficient water supply along with it. He has decided to keep the compensation amount in the bank till the time he finds the perfect piece of land he is looking for, so currently his money is safely deposited in the bank. Even though 31 gunthas out of a total of 39 gunthas of his farmland has been given up for the Samruddhi project, he plans to continue farming in the remaining 8 gunthas of farmland.