How Mukesh Ambani's risky bet has now become Reliance's superpower
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Reliance-Disney JV creates digital powerhouse, yet Disney projects $200 mn loss in year to September
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3 hours ago
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The Hindu
5 hours ago
- The Hindu
Adani-Ambuja in Spotlight over Chandrapur Land Grab
Published : Aug 06, 2025 18:52 IST - 12 MINS READ Land has always been at a premium in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district because of its wealth in natural resources and minerals, be it coal, iron ore, or limestone, which explains the presence of many big corporations in this region. Now, a new game of land grab is at play in the district, especially in Korpana tehsil, known for its limestone deposits and the cement industries that have mushroomed here over the past 30 years. Korpana tehsil lies at the border of Maharashtra and Telangana. Since 2001, Ambuja Cements (formerly Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd) has had an integrated cement plant in Korpana's Gadchandur city. Gadchandur, also known as 'cement city', is home to several large cement factories belonging to companies such as Ambuja Cements, Maratha Cement Works, Ultratech Cement, and Dalmia Cement, and they source limestone from the nearby villages. For one such project, namely the Nandgaon-Ekodi limestone mine, Ambuja Cements applied for environmental clearance (EC) for limestone mining on a land parcel of 369.52 hectares spread across four villages: Nandgaon, Ekodi, Kawthala, and Bhoyegaon. A public hearing was held as part of the EC process on January 29, 2021, details of which are available on the government's Parivesh portal. In the public hearing, several farmers, including Kawthala's then sarpanch Naresh Satpute, also affected by the project, put forth some demands. They wanted the land deals to be completed by May 31, 2021; one member of each 7/12 extract (a revenue document that gives details of land ownership) to be given a job in the company; and farmers to get Rs.50 lakh per acre and compensation of Rs.30 lakh each if they were not given jobs. (These are recorded in the minutes of the public hearing.) Also Read | Karnataka farmers refuse to give up fertile land for Aerospace Park As per the minutes, Ambuja Cements replied: 'After receipt of EC, land acquisition process will be carried out,' that indicating that the farmers' demands would be considered after acquisition. The company also said that there would not be 'any mediator involved during the process of land acquisition' and that the agreements would be 'between the project proponent & landowner only'. Ambuja Cements was granted the EC in August 2022. In September 2022, the Adani Group acquired Ambuja Cements and its subsidiary ACC Ltd for $10.5 billion (roughly Rs.81,000 crore) in what the pink press called the group's largest ever acquisition and India's largest ever M&A (merger and acquisition) deal in the infrastructure and materials space. However, the company did not initiate work on the limestone project. Then, in the monsoon months of 2024, a group of people descended on the four villages. Naresh Satpute said: 'Nitin Zade from Ambuja Cements said the process of buying land would start soon. We knew Nitin because he is from a nearby village and had been working at Ambuja Cements' Gadchandur plant for many years.' The farmers were initially hesitant to sell because the company's offer price was too low. 'They were offering us Rs.25 lakh per acre. We were not ready to sell,' said Satpute. Land sales begin Then, he added, in late 2024 Sudhir Mungantiwar, the BJP MLA from Ballarpur in Chandrapur district and a former Cabinet Minister, met them in Chandrapur. 'There, the company people offered Rs.35 lakh per acre. Mungantiwar told us farmers that we should now sell the land to the company or MIDC [Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation] would come in and we won't get even this amount.' At this point, the farmers began to sell their land at Rs.35 lakh per acre to the 'company people'. However, when they went to the registrar's office in Korpana Block Office, they found that the buyer was not Ambuja Cements but a different company. Satpute said: 'However, we still signed the papers because Rs.35 lakh per acre was a large amount. Also, once all the farmers began to accept the cheques, who will oppose?' (The EC mentions Rs.72 lakh per hectare as the compensation amount.) Satpute's family sold 12 acres. The registration process for 10 acres has been completed and the remaining two acres are in the process of being sold at the time of filing this report. New buyers Soon, the farmers realised that each of them was selling to a different buyer. Bebitai Madan Satpute, Naresh Satpute's mother, sold her land to Victorlane Projects Pvt. Ltd, while a farmer named Nandkishor Thakre, also of Kawthala village, sold his land to Vihay Realtors Pvt. Ltd. In total, 13 such companies bought the land where Ambuja Cements was supposed to start a limestone mine. Enquiries by Frontline revealed that all 13 companies are registered at the same address: 103 and 104 Ramsukh House, Thube Park, Shivajinagar, Pune. This address also appears on the sale deeds registered in the Korpana registrar office. One of the names figuring in the sale deeds is that of Tushar Satywan Gajbhiye. When contacted on June 17, Gajbhiye claimed that all the paperwork was legal and promised to call back with more responses but did not. Nitin Shamsundar Zade, who interacted with the farmers on the land sale, was the land acquisition officer in Ambuja Cements' Gadchandur division for many years and is a familiar figure in the area. Zade was made an additional director in all 13 companies on a single day: February 27, 2025. When contacted by Frontline, Zade said he could not talk without permission from his bosses. Asked if he was still working at Ambuja Cements, he did not give a straight answer. Further enquiries revealed that 7 of the directors in these 13 companies are current or former employees of Ambuja Cements, ACC, or linked companies. All 13 companies are part of the Rucha Group of companies, according to Shailendra Rathi, the group's land acquisition officer. The group's beneficial owner (with 95 per cent shares) is Raj Rajeshwar Projects LLP, a company incorporated in May 2022 and owned by Prashant Nilawar, who was implicated in the Rs.1,000 crore Buldana cooperative society scam of 2021. The Buldana scam involved a money laundering operation to conceal alleged proceeds from corruption within Maharashtra's Public Works Department. Rucha group Speaking to Frontline, Rathi said: 'We are in the land banking business. We buy land at various locations. Sometimes we develop them. So, in these four villages too, we have bought land.' Asked why the group was buying the land, he said: 'There is no concrete proposal right now. We are just buying it.' On whether the group companies were buying the land for Ambuja Cements, Rathi said: 'We have nothing to do with Ambuja Cements. We are buying the land for ourselves.' Regarding the environmental clearance for limestone mining, he said: 'We don't know the history. There could be some clearance given, but that was long ago, in 2021 [the EC was actually given in August 2022]. We have been buying land over the last few months.' Asked if the group would sell the land to Ambuja Cements, Rathi said: 'The company has not thought about it.' On whether the Rucha Group had asked Sudhir Mungantiwar to contact the farmers, Rathi said: 'We have no idea whether Mungantiwarji met the farmers or not. We have nothing to do with him, and we are not in touch with him.' Asked if it could be a breach of law were Rucha Group to sell the land to Ambuja Cements in future, Rathi said: 'No such question arises; we have not thought about selling as of now.' Rathi admitted that Gajbhiye was an employee of his company. On Nitin Zade, he said: 'He is our local man. We made him director for extending help locally.' When asked if Zade was also an employee of Ambuja Cements, Rathi said: 'I am not aware of that. It is possible he could be working for them. We don't have an issue with where Zade works locally.' Too many red flags It is quite a coincidence that Zade was the land acquisition officer for Ambuja Cements and that Rathi's companies made him a director for acquiring the same land for which Ambuja Cements had acquired an EC. Rathi said: 'We were not aware of Zade's association with Ambuja.' Since the land parcels fall in Korpana tehsil and are part of the proposed mining site, Frontline reached out to Pallavi Akhare, the tehsildar of Korpana. She said: 'I have no idea about the land being sold. I have asked my colleagues to find out what is happening.' Both the tehsildar and other local administration officials claimed to be ignorant of the enormous land deals taking place in their jurisdiction. Why did ACC pay Rs.100 cr more to acquire Rucha Group? Strangely, ACC paid Rs.298.61 crore to acquire the Rucha Group companies that had already bought the land parcels. paying almost Rs.100 crore more than it would have had it acquired the land directly from the farmers. When contacted, Sudhir Mungantiwar said: 'I have neither asked nor forced anyone to sell the land. A few local BJP workers came to me and told me that the company is buying only 300 acres. The other [tracts of] land close to the proposed project land would also be affected. These farmers won't be able to do agricultural work there. So, these workers were demanding that the company buy all the land there. I told the District Collector that it is a genuine issue, and to ensure that all farmers concerned get proper compensation, and the company buys all the land concerned. My relation to this case ends here.' As for companies other than Ambuja Cements buying the land, Mungantiwar said: 'I am not aware who bought the land. I only know the farmers are happy that they got good compensation.' Legal angle Speaking to Frontline, Lara Jesani, a well-known advocate of the Bombay High Court, said: 'The EC specifies the compensation payable by Ambuja Cements to the farmers for their land being taken over for the project. Ambuja Cements alone is the project proponent in the EC and the terms and conditions of the EC bind the company.' Regarding the 13 other companies buying the land, she said: 'Ambuja Cements ought to be paying compensation to the farmers for the project land as per the EC. If it is found that companies purportedly related to Ambuja Cements in some ways have bought the land, it must be investigated. The authorities have to investigate if the terms of transfer and the compensation payable to the farmers were followed in these sales.' Jesani added that the authorities need to check whether the EC's terms have been complied with. The EIA Notification, 2006, states that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study must necessarily include social impact assessment and rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) issues. They include a plan for resettlement, compensation to affected people, alternative livelihood concerns/employment for affected people, and so on. Ambuja Cements' promises In the EC, Ambuja Cements agreed to pay compensation in three parts: 40 per cent lump sum, 40 per cent in the form of fixed deposits, and 20 per cent in the form of annuities (such as LIC policies). It also agreed, inter alia, to identify alternative land for farming, organise vocational and skills training, and make a one-time (livelihood) payment of Rs.5 lakh per project-affected family. The entitlement matrix was derived on the basis of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, known as the LARR Act. It includes extra compensation for vulnerable families and consideration for project employment. Also, if additional impacts are identified during implementation, the entitlement matrix is updated. Since the Rucha Group companies purchased the project land instead of the project proponent, none of these R&R conditions have been met. Official response In response to Frontline's questions, Ambuja Cements replied with a statement that said: 'The [land] acquisition was facilitated through multiple special purpose vehicles, which are wholly owned subsidiaries of Ambuja Cements.' The Rucha Group companies bought the land in 2024. But, as per Ambuja Cements' annual reports and stock market filings, the companies became subsidiaries via a share purchase agreement only in February 2025. Also Read | Whose future? Ambuja Cements also said in its statement that the 'method of acquisition, whether direct or through subsidiaries, does not alter the legal ownership or the intended use of the land'. But earlier, at the public hearing, the company had promised that there would be no mediator and that the purchase agreements would be between project proponent and landowner only. In its statement, Ambuja Cements further said: 'Any questions raised around alleged job assurances stem from unilateral and informal references noted by a few landowners in their voluntary no objection certificates during the initial phase of the project. These references were not part of any contractual agreement with Ambuja Cements, nor were they recognised by regulatory authorities as a valid basis for granting Environmental Clearance (EC).' EC and R&R The EC was issued after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change accepted the conditions of the R&R plan, which includes a one-time payment per project-affected family, skills training, and other specifics. The R&R plan and the commitments made by Ambuja Cements are mentioned in the EIA report, based on which the public hearing took place. The report is in the public domain. One specific condition was: 'Action taken report of R&R plan shall be submitted annually. As discussed during the meeting, the benefit to project-affected persons as a percentage of the sale price shall be submitted to the Ministry.' In its statement, Ambuja Cements also said: 'The entire land acquisition was completed within six months—a clear indication of mutual interest, trust, and the fulfilment of expectations on both sides. Farmers received compensation rates significantly above prevailing government guideline values.' Strangely, as per its annual report, ACC paid Rs.298.61 crore to acquire the Rucha Group companies that had already bought the land parcels. In other words, it paid almost Rs.100 crore more than it would have had it acquired the land directly from the farmers. (The budget as per the EC was Rs.201 crore.) The Ambuja Cements statement also noted: 'We continue to receive fresh requests from neighbouring landowners who wish to sell their land to Ambuja Cements—a strong testament to our fairness, transparent dealings, and the trust we have built on the ground.' Chandrapur's farmers are unhappy. Ambuja Cements did not buy the land directly from them despite its assurances in the public hearing, and their demand for one job per 7/12 extract, and the R&R guarantees specified in the EC, have not been met so far. Naresh Satpute said: 'We are being cheated. But what can we do?' Anand Mangnale is an independent journalist.
