Scam record · 2025 · Money & funding
Bihar: ~1,000 acres to Adani Power at ₹1 lease
Bihar's NDA government leased about 1,020 to 1,050 acres in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur, to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW plant at a token ₹1 rate. Opposition calls it a gift of public land. The state says it is a lease under industrial policy, not a freehold sale, and that ownership stays with the government.
Street line you will hear: BJP sold a thousand acres to Adani for one rupee. The paper trail is uglier and more precise. Public reporting puts roughly 1,020 to 1,050 acres at Pirpainti, Bhagalpur, under a long lease to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW thermal plant, at a token rent of about ₹1 per acre per year (Wire) or ₹1 per year for decades (Congress framing). Either way, that is not market rent for a thousand acres of Bihar land.
Congress and farmer protests called it double loot: land and trees handed cheap, then power sold back to Bihar at a high unit rate. Pawan Khera alleged about 1,050 acres plus trees for 33 years at ₹1. Farmers' coercion claims are also in the political record. Treat named force claims as allegation until a court or named inquiry pins them.
Bihar government's defence (Indian Express explainers and state ministers): the land was not sold freehold. Ownership stays with the Energy Department. The token lease sits under the Bihar Industrial Investment Promotion Package 2025, offered to qualifying investors, and was part of reducing generation cost in the bid. Officials say Adani won a competitive tender for the plant against other bidders. BJP frames criticism as anti-development.
Citizen question that survives the spin: why should public land acquired over years, with farmer blood and old compensation fights in the same belt, go to a private plant at ₹1 economics while households pay the tariff? Lease-not-sale is not the same as fair price. Token rent is a political choice. Demand the lease deed, bid papers, and valuation via RTI.
What is proven here
Proof level: contested. Token lease of ~1,000+ acres to Adani Power is widely reported (Wire, TOI, Indian Express). Not a court finding of criminal sale. Government denies special gift and says lease + policy + tender. Do not share as 'sold for ₹1 forever' without the lease-vs-sale distinction.
Sources
- The Wire: 1,020 acres lease at ₹1 per acre per year (News + docs)
- Indian Express: Congress protest vs Bihar govt claim (News + docs)
- TOI: Congress on 1,050 acres at ₹1 per year (News + docs)
- Sunday Guardian: Congress 'double looting' charge (News + docs)