Chinsurah, Feb. 23: The government will give 25 per cent of the value of a plot as compensation to unrecorded sharecroppers if they can prove that they had been tilling the land for at least three years until it was acquired for the Tata Motors project.

Hooghly district magistrate Binod Kumar announced this evening that the unrecorded bargadars will receive the same amount of compensation as the ones registered. “However, these farmers will have to prove that they have been farming the land within the Tata Motors project site for the past three years.”

A notification had been issued informing the residents of Beraberi, Khasherbheri, Gopalnagar, Bajemelia and Singherbheri mouzas about the decision. Unrecorded sharecroppers were believed to be those still fiercely opposing the small-car project, about 40 km from Calcutta.

Land department officers said sharecroppers who make the three-year cut would have to fill up a form within a fortnight and submit it to the block development officer.

“They have to provide records of the portion of the land they tilled, a certificate from the landowner, statements from two neighbouring recorded sharecroppers vouching for them and their own affidavits,” an official said.

Landowners have got up to 152 per cent of the market value as compensation that includes a 30 per cent solatium and 10 per cent bonus for consent. Both the CPM and the government were earlier opposed to compensating unrecorded sharecroppers.