This once sleepy village of Manak Tabra in Haryana has known no peace since 2006. It is right in the middle of the 22 villages between Dangri and Toka rivulets where Sabeer Bhatia has planned his Rs 18.5-billion Nano City.

Even after two years, the project remains a non-starter with the company failing to buy any land here. A common cause that has brought the 22 villages together under the umbrella of Shivalik Area Kisan Sangharsh Samiti is fighting against land acquisition by the Government (Haryana Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation has a 10 per cent sweat equity in the project) or the company.

The Samiti is headed by 71-year-old Karam Singh from Rurki — a village that’s only a few kilometres away from Manak Tabra and is totally inhabited by Sikh farmers, some of whom have been here for more than 100 years. Known as Masterji among the villagers, Karam Singh and other members of the Samiti fan across the villages at nights whenever there’s a rumour regarding any villager selling his land to the company.

“Even my great grandfather was born here. How can I sell this land? They have plans to build an airport on our lush green agricultural fields. Where will we buy land again if we sell this off? Land prices have shot through the roof everywhere. Prices in the nearby areas have gone up since the announcement of this project as they are expecting us to buy land there once we are dislocated from here,” says Karam Singh who, along with his brother, owns 25 acres of land in Rurki.

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