The 19 recorded cases of land frauds involving 300 acres in Pune over the last year, where the police have pointed to a nexus between builders, registration officials, local politicians and the underworld, are giving rise to serious concerns about the projects planned in the district in the coming months. On the anvil in the the district are thirty-four townships, aggregating a minimum of 3,400 acres of land and Rs 3,000 crore of estimated investment.

Commenting on the situation, additional chief secretary (home) Chitkala Zutshi admitted that land-related crimes were being reported from Pune but said it was up to the district collector and the revenue department to tackle such incidents. “We are open to increasing the number of police personnel by more than 11,000 a year for the state each year if the revenue department requests us for more forces to tackle such crimes,” she said. However, till date, she has not received any such request, Zutshi said.

Senior officers of the revenue department opined that there has to be a meeting of the two departments to evolve a joint programme before the demand for additional policemen could be made. Pune district, with a population of about 75 lakh, still has a police force of just 8,500.

Pune guardian minister Ajit Pawar said that he was doing all he could to spread the word that farmers need not be forced to give up their land. Citing the examples of the Magarpatta and Nanded townships that saw farmers turn equity holders, he called upon farmers who have been at the receiving end of dubious land deals to approach him.

“I am in Pune on weekends and can be contacted in Mumbai as well. I can definitely take action, if farmers approach me before they sign up any document,” he said. “I have already been spreading this message through speeches and in meetings in the villages,” he added.

Meanwhile, a farmer who gave up 300 acres of his land for a township in Pune is readying to file a legal suit against the developer. “I have not got any compensation,” he said, adding that he has done several rounds of the Divisional Commissionerate seeking justice. He is only one among many who have been at the receiving end of dubious land deals in the district.

“If somebody is duped or deceived, then they need to approach the police and if there are some issues about the entries, they can approach us. It is 150 year-old system which needs to have repeated checks,” divisional commissioner Nitin Kareer said. “If proper checks are in place, the number of cases of land frauds will come down,” he added.

Clearly, land acquisition is far from easy as the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), the nodal land acquisition agency for development projects in the state, including SEZs, keeps finding out. “It is getting more and more difficult to acquire land from farmers despite attractive government compensation packages,” pointed out a senior MIDC officer.

Shrikant Paranjape, chairman of Paranjape schemes which has a township of 140 acres coming up on the outskirts of the city, however does not agree that there is a direct link between the rise in number of townships and activity scale of the land mafia. “This is because of escalating land prices and has nothing to do with townships,” he claimed. But Paranjape admitted that when lots of acquisitions take place for development, there are bound to be some black sheep.