Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Clarification to be sought from govt. on land acquisition rules: The Hindu


Utilisation of Rs. 29 cr. allotted for widening of Mananchira-Vellimadukunnu stretch of NH

District-level meeting to review the progress of the Kozhikode City Road Improvement Project (KCRIP) on Monday decided to seek a clarification from the State government on the utilisation of the recently released Rs. 29 crore allotted for the widening of the Mananchira- Vellimadukunnu stretch of the National Highway.

The meeting chaired by Minister for Social Justice and Panchayats M.K. Muneer said that the new rules framed by the government based on the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, required the acquisition authority to conduct a social impact study as well as constitution of a committee comprising Revenue officials and elected representatives to look into the utilisation of funds for mega projects.

The government has allotted Rs 29 crore for two purposes. About Rs 25 crore is to acquire land and the remaining Rs.4 crore to construct a compound wall to prevent encroachments on government land falling in the alignment of the national highway.

However, this amount is yet to be released to the Revenue Department though the Public Works Department has received a Letter of Credit from the government on the payment. In any case, the amount would be used to acquire land by February, official sources said.

At present, the Revenue Department has received Rs 25 crore as first tranche and another installment of Rs 10 crore for the road widening project. The first tranche had been used to acquire land at the Malaparamba junction. The Revenue department had also taken into government possession about 40 shops at the junction.

It was decided to use the amount to acquire the land between the Additional District Magistrate‘s (ADM) Bungalow and IQRAA Hospital, considered to be narrowest stretches along the 8.4-km Mananchira- Vellimadukunnu road.

Now the Rs 10 crore would be used exclusively to complete the land acquisition of ADM Bungalow- Christ Hall- IQRAA Hospital stretch of Malaparamba junction. The land required is 6,356 sq.m (1.57 acres) for the junction.

But the Revenue Department had not been able to rehabilitate the shop keepers. Already the shops at the Malaparamba junction had been demolished, officials said.

A.Pradeepkumar, MLA; District Collector N. Prasanth; Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) general manager Sudarsanan Pillai, KRFB coordinator K. Lekha; Special Tahsildar (KCRIP and Land Acquisition) N. Ramla and PWD officials took part in the meeting.

New rules require the acquisition authority to conduct a social impact study

Biju Govind
Original Article

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