Journalist involved in land dealings

C Shivakumar
Perambalur:

He was a hero turned villain for villagers of Naranamangalam villagers in Perambalur district whose land were acquired for the Rs 900 crore Green Field Unit for passenger and truck radials in the village.



It was Senthil Murugan, a former Netrikan journalist, who opposed the MRF project when it was proposed by writing fiery articles against former Union Telecom Minister A Raja. But then all of a sudden, Murugan, now a journalist with Murasoli, joined the opposite flank and was allegedly the one who was the brain behind the acquisition of land from villagers.



Villagers while highlighting some of the articles written by him questioning the project said he sold them out to Raja. “He was the one who brokered the meeting with Raja and when we turned down the minister’s offer, he was instrumental in threatening us to part with the land,” says Senthil Kumar, who was booked in a fictitous case for 13 days under the SC/ ST Act. He was released after he signed the deal at the sub-registrar office at 9 pm on the 13th day of his detention.



When Express contacted Murugan in the village he said there was nothing wrong in the land deal and questioned why the villagers are raking up the issue after three years.



Murugan said, “The real land value was less than Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. They should be grateful that due to MRF they got a good price.” He also dismissed the allegations of villagers and said that someone is instigating the villagers against him.



As he was giving his version to Express, an angry mob gheraoed him and said he was telling lies forcing Murugan to flee from the place along with the reporter. He was again abused by the villagers whose tempers frayed as they put forth certain documents stating his involvement in the whole issue. “He is a cheat. He cheated us when we believed him to be our own,” said a villager.



And this anger could sum up the feeling of more than 160 families whose land has been procured for the MRF project. Among those are dalits as well as members from other communities who now have to look outside the village to eke out their hand to mouth existence. Some of the villagers were given a raw deal after they sold their land to Green House Promoters, a firm owned by A Raja’s family members and aides.



Some were paid as less as Rs 32,000 to Rs one lakh for the per acre of land by officials of Green House Promoters, with whom MRF has entered into a deal to procure the land for their Rs 900 crore Green Field unit for Passenger and truck radials in the state. “The land was then sold back to MRF by the officials of the real estate firm for Rs 4.35 lakh officially,” villagers said, claiming the real estate firm would have sold it at much higher rate to MRF.



“I had immense trust in Union Telecom Minister A Raja as being a dalit he will understand our problems. When I was forced to sell my land by Green House Promoters. I thought I will get a good deal as the minister is from our community. Unfortunately, he also exploited us,” said Maniraj, who got Rs one lakh for his one acre of land.



“Once I sold my land for Rs one lakh, the brokers approached me in my home and demanded Rs 25,000 to be paid back as they have spent the amount on transferring the records from my grandmother’s name to my mother’s name,” said Maniraj.



Maniraj is among the rest of the dalits who don’t have any source of income and are feeding on the money which they got as compensation from the land. Some are migrating to far off cities like Trichy for a job in the unorganized sector, some are still mulling over their bleak future.



Most of the men are hardly educated beyond eighth standard and some illiterate and use only thumb impression and that proved as a boon to the Green House Promoters officials as well as the district officials to exploit them.



In another case, Paramasivan, another dalit farmer, says he was forced to part with his six acre land for Rs 5.5 lakh. However, he had to allegedly part with Rs 1.25 lakh of the deal after he was being threatened by the brokers. But Murugan, a journalist turned land broker for the real estate firm, denied the allegations. “It was the problem between the brothers. We solved the issue,” he says.