Baldev, the Sarpanch of Badoli, is the most outspoken and says that villagers are smarting. He says that a majority of the land on which the distillery stands belonged to Badoli and was sold to a businessman around 15 years ago (for approximately Rs 7,000 per acre) who, in turn, sold it to Ashok Jain, the owner of N V Distilleries. He holds a sheaf of CVs of educated youth of the village, whose applications for employment, he says, have been rejected by distillery managers.

“When the public hearing of the Panchayat was held to approve the distillery, we gave our no-objection on the promise that at least 100 semi-skilled jobs would be given to the locals of Naraingarh. There are hundreds of workers in the plant but only three or four boys from Badoli were given jobs. When we contact the distillery manager, he directs us to the head-office in New Delhi. How can we travel all the way to Delhi to beg for jobs?”

The Sarpanch of a third village, Gola, also has a grouse against N V Distilleries. He alleges that 7 acres of riverine Panchayat land have also been encroached upon by the distillery. A visit shows that the distillery’s earth-movers have begun digging operations outside the boundary of the distillery on land the villagers of Gola identify as the property of their panchayat.

When asked about these complaints, chairman of N V Distilleries Ashok Jain told The Indian Express that this was simply a case of villagers getting too greedy. He said, “Due to our distillery land prices in Naraingarh have soared and eventually it is the villagers who will benefit. As far as jobs are concerned, we have given around 10 local boys semi-skilled jobs in the distillery. The rest of the labour force comes from annual contracts given out by us to labour contractors.”

... contd.