labels: economy - general, reliance energy, tata power company
Reliance, Tatas fight it out over Alibaug land news
29 January 2007

As the debate rages over SEZs, farmers in Maharashtra's Alibaug district are gearing up for another land battle. Tata Power and Reliance Energy are both bidding for the same 1000 acres of land. CNBC-TV18 reports on the corporate tug-of-war.

A huge tract of nearly 4,000 acres of agricultural land near Alibaug, some 120km North East of Mumbai, is the epicentre of a triangular fight between Reliance Energy and Tata Power who are fighting an ego battle.

And local farmers on the third front who are fighting for their land… and their existence. In spite of having independent MOUs with the state government for separate pieces of land, both companies have now set their eyes on a 1,000-acre block of land, which overlaps both projects. Put off by this battle, farmers now say that they are unwilling to sell their land to either companies.

But this opposition is not limited to Alibaug. Farmers in the entire Raigad district are already opposing land acquisition by the state government for various projects, which also include SEZs.

The farmers also fear the environmental impact that the two huge projects will have, given that one is for a 4,000mw and the other 1600mw capacity power plant.

While two corporate giants Reliance Energy and Tata Power slug it out in government corridors for prime agricultural land in Alibaug, the farmers are quite clear that no amount of money will compensate them for the long-term loss in productivity that they currently enjoy from this fertile land.


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Reliance, Tatas fight it out over Alibaug land