Nurpur residents unhappy over land acquisition rates
Nurpur, March 2
The Four Lane Sangharsh Samiti, Nurpur, has “rejected” the land acquisition awards for the National Highways Authority of India’s package-1 from Kandwal to Bhedkhud announced by the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA)-cum-SDM on Monday.
Samiti’s senior vice-president Sudarshan Sharma and general secretary Vijay Heer, in a statement issued here today, said that they would meet the Kangra Deputy Commissioner tomorrow to seek fair rates for all people affected by the Pathankot-Mandi road widening project and request him to revoke these awards with immediate effect. They also threatened that the affected families would gherao the CALA office and resort to a token fast on Friday if they were not given justice.
The samiti members alleged that the CALA had defied provisions of Section 26 of the Right to Fair Compensation Act-2013 while evaluating the awards for acquiring private land for the four-lane road widening project. They said that there was a big difference in land acquisition rates announced under 3A notification of March 9, 2018, and the supplementary 3A notification of October 20, 2020. “The CALA had invited objections from the affected people for supplementary awards to be announced on March 14 but didn’t give the opportunity to them for filing their objections to the awards of the previous 3A notification announced on Monday,” they lamented.
The samiti members said the state government had not even constituted a coordination committee required to address the grievances of the affected people.
Ajay Mahajan, Kangra district Congress president and former MLA, alleged that the state government had betrayed the affected families of the highway widening project, especially in lower Kangra areas. He said these people had been agitating for the past over two years to seek a fair compensation. The local BJP leadership had given hollow assurances to these people, he added. — OC
Provisions flouted
Members of the Four Lane Sangharsh Samiti, Nurpur, alleged the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition had defied provisions of Section 26 of the Right to Fair Compensation Act-2013 while evaluating the awards for acquiring private land for the four-lane road widening project.
