Pune Ganpat Borade, a retired post master from Warude who has given up his 7.5 acre land for the Bharat Forge multi-product SEZ at Khed is hoping that the second phase of negotiations will fetch him a better price for his land than what was offered by Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) two years back. The public hearing will be conducted in the first week of April. The SEZ, a 76:24 joint venture between Bharat Forge and the MIDC, spans over 7,192 hectares across 17 villages in Pune district. "The MIDC had offered Rs 17 lakh per hectare two years back. But they are offering Rs 40 lakh per hectare for their Chakan Phase-II project. Hence, they ought to give us more,''says Borde. Borade will be among the many villagers who will be attending the negotiation meeting under the district collector Chandrakant Dalvi in the first week of April. Kisan Gorde, the sarpanch of Gosasi too feels that in two years' time the land rates in the area have shot up. With Gorde giving up 5.5 acres of his land in Gosasi, he is keen to invest the money in another plot of land. While Sunil Choudhary, a retired hawaldar from the Indian Army who has 64 acres of land in the project from Pabal said that he along with many other villagers have already approached the MIDC to give them a better deal.