By IANS,
Jodhpur : Four people have been arrested in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district for acting as mediators in large-scale land deals in which farmers’ agriculture land is allegedly being sold off to private companies, police said Monday.
“The farmers around Baap area have been saying that their agriculture land was sold to some private company without their knowledge. They allege at least 10,000 bigha of land has been grabbed,” a senior police officer said.
At least nine police cases have been registered with Jodhpur and Bhopalgarh police stations over the past two weeks by farmers.
Police suspect the deals were carried out by land grabbers in connivance with private companies and government officials as the land prices here have soared after the state government’s announcement to develop Baap as solar power area. Many private companies are eyeing the area to set up solar power plants.
Police said FIRs have been registered against two real estate companies — one based in Delhi and the other in Mumbai.
An agitation has been launched in the area with farmers regularly holding community meetings. “Hundreds of farmers have decided to approach courts as they have failed to get police attention,” said Pahad Singh, sarpanch of a village Sanwara.