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RIICO bid to bury row over land acquisition for Hero Honda

Special Correspondent

Deposits 80 % of compensation money in civil court

JAIPUR: Trying to set at rest the controversy over forcible acquisition of land for Hero Honda in Kukas, the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) on Tuesday claimed that it had offered 80 per cent of the compensation amount to the land owners and later deposited it in the court.

The RIICO obtained possession of the land measuring 101.30 hectares at Kukas, near here, on Sunday despite a strong protest by farmers. Police, Special Task Force and Rajasthan Armed Constabulary jawans laid siege to the village and took those agitating into custody.

Five of the farmers in the village have obtained stay from the Rajasthan High Court against the acquisition. The RIICO officials levelled and demarcated the acquired land except the plots under the stay orders. The opposition by farmers, who tried to stop the convoy of two-dozen vehicles and machines, led to tension in the village.

A spokesperson of RIICO said here in a statement that 80 per cent of the estimated compensation amount had been offered to the landowners. When they refused to accept the amount, it was deposited in the civil court as per the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act.

The compensation, he pointed out, had been awarded at the rates higher than those prevailing in Kukas and included additional payments for appurtenances up to 30 per cent of the rates. The rates finalised were Rs. 15.60 lakhs per bigha of land on the national highway and Rs. 14.30 lakhs per bigha of irrigated land within 500 metres of national highway.

Similarly, Rs. 13 lakhs per bigha were offered for the unirrigated land within 500 metres of national highway. The rates for irrigated land beyond 500 metres were Rs. 9.10 lakhs per bigha and Rs. 7.80 lakhs for unirrigated land. All these rates were worked out on the basis of prices prevailing in the adjoining Harbar village.

The spokesperson said 80 per cent of the estimated compensation, including additional valuation for structures, trees and houses, amounted to Rs. 31.32 crores. The purpose of acquiring the land was to expand the existing Kukas industrial area and its notification was issued on July 1 last.

The Kukas industrial area is saturated with all industrial plots having been allotted to various entrepreneurs, of whom 19 have established their units. One hotel and four colleges are also situated in the area.

The spokesperson pointed out that Hero Honda and other automobile companies had evinced interest in establishing their units in the land acquired by RIICO. This will offer employment opportunities to thousands of people and give impetus to economic development.

Many ancillary units would also come up in the industrial area, creating further job opportunities, according to the RIICO spokesperson. Hero Honda group alone is likely to catalyse investment amounting to nearly Rs. 300 crores in the area.

However, the farmers in Kukas have been protesting against the acquisition exercise while pointing out that plenty of Government land was available for expansion of the industrial area. They affirmed that they were not informed about the RIICO's plans for forcibly getting possession of land at a meeting with district officials convened on Saturday to sort out the issue.

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RIICO bid to bury row over land acquisition for Hero Honda

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