New Delhi: After fulfilling its campaign promise to waive off farmer loans, the Congress party in Chhattisgarh has begun the process of implementation for another promise from its manifesto.

There is land in the district of Bastar that was acquired by Tata for the purposes of building a manufacturing plant. On Monday, chief minister Bhupesh Baghel directed officials to bring to the Council of Ministers a proposal to return that land to the farmers to whom it belonged.

The farmers’ land was acquired for a Tata Steel plant in the Lohandiguda area of the tribal-majority district of Bastar.

The Congress had promised in its manifesto that all land acquired from farmers for industrial purposes, on which no projects had been commenced within five years of the date of acquisition, would be returned.

During the campaigning for the elections, in a rally in Bastar, party chief Rahul Gandhi assured farmers that their land would be returned to them.

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Drawing attention to the campaign promise, Baghel instructed officials to promptly commence the process of returning the land – acquired for the Tata Steel plant and spread across ten villages – to the farmers from whom it was taken.

After the announcement of the decision, Baghel told The Wire, “Rahulji had made a promise to the tribals before the elections, and we have fulfilled that promise. The rights of the Adivasis to their water, forest and land have been restored. We want to win the trust of the Adivasis and only this sort of development can lead to the neutralisation of Maoism.”

This land was acquired for the Tata Steel plant in February 2008 and December 2008, but the company has not set up any plant or factory on the land yet.

Of the villages from which the land was acquired, Kumarrli, Chhindgaon, Belialaal, Badanji, Dabpal, Mahaparoda, Balar and Sirisguda are in the Lohandiguda tehsil and Takadaguda is in the Tokapal tehsil.

This article was originally published in The Wire Hindi and has been translated by Karan Dhingra.