Amid the ongoing protest by farmers in south Gujarat over acquisition of land for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, a three-member team of Japan International Co-operation Agency, which is funding the Rs 1.08 lakh crore project, on Friday met the affected farmers and listened to their grievances. Advertising Katsuo Matsumoto, the chief representative of JICA, met hundreds of affected farmers of Surat, Navsari and Valsad districts at Amadpore village in Navsari. President of Gujarat unit of Khedut Samaj, Jayesh Patel, farmer leader Darshan Naik and their lawyer Anand Yagnik were also present. The meeting was held at a farmland which is to be acquired for the 508-km-long high speed rail project “We told them (JICA representative) that the government is giving us compensation as per 2011 jantri rates which is less than the current jantri rates. Farm labourers working in our fields will lose their jobs,” said Siddharth Desai on whose farm JICA representatives met the farmers. A farmer of Kacholi village in Navsari, told the visiting representatives that their houses will be destroyed by the project. “The implementation of Land Acquisition Act 2013 is not followed properly by Gujarat government. For the same project, Maharashtra farmers are getting more compensation, while Gujarat farmers are not getting amount as per market rates,” Khedut Samaj leader Jayesh Patel said.

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