Bullet train land acquisition: Farmers' representatives to go to Japan, meet JICA officials, politicians, media

By Our Representative
A 20-odd farmers' delegation consisting of representatives from Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli is planning to go to Japan in October to represent before the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding the Rs 80,000 crore Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.
The delegation plans to go to Japan after JICA "agreed" to listen to the grievances of the project-affected farmers. It will also be meeting the leader of the opposition, student leaders and intellectuals in Japan, and hold press conferences in five cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to make a statement that it's not just land but life that is being for the project.
Revealing this, senior advocate Anand Yagnik, who is representing the aggrieved farmers in the Gujarat High Court, said, JICA guidelines "categorically say that if any person aggrieved by the land acquisition being carried out on finance from Japan Bank can file a petition formally invoking the guidelines of JICA." He added, JICA, after hearing them, would "depute a team and try to reconcile the situation.”
JICA agreed to meet the delegation after Yagnik shot off a letter to Japan’s Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu and Chief Representative of JICA India Office, Katsuo Matsumoto, demanding intervention from the agency wanting constitution of a team and schedule a meeting with the project-affected farmers.

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