Judicial probe ordered in Dharma Patil case

Mumbai: Energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday announced a judicial probe into the controversial death of Dhule farmer, Dharma Patil, and land compensations in the legislative assembly.

 A retired high court judge will decide whether Mr Patil’s family got less compensation than the others, and the probe will be conducted in three months, said Mr Bawankule.

Mr Patil, in protest of getting less compensation for his land given for an energy project, consumed a poisonous chemical on January 22 and died seven days later at J.J. Hospital in Mumbai. 

Senior officials said that the government has ordered a judicial probe to retaliate to the allegations leveled by the opposition and put the blame on the former Congress-NCP government.

Mr Patil’s grievance was that his neighbour, Shankar Girase, got a compensation of Rs 1.89 crore which was more than what he got but no one considered it. 

After an enquiry by the collector, the government revised the compensation and paid Mr Patil’s legal heirs and his son, Narendra Patil, said Mr Bawankule in the assembly while replying to the objections raised by the opposition.

Mr Bawankule further said that 476 hectare land had been acquired for the power project at Dhule by the Maharashtra Electricity Generation company. 

“When Ajit Pawar was the energy minister, he offered a compensation of Rs 10 lakh per hectare in 2013. However, farmers who owned 199 hectare land - including Mr Patil and his son, Mr Narendra - did not give their consent. 

When the government acquired the land by compulsory acquisition, Mr Patil and Mr Narendra accepted the award given by the land acquisition officer but other farmers refused. 

Now, the government had sanctioned Mr Patil an ex-gratia amount that was deposited in his son’s bank account,” said Mr Bawankule.