KOCHI: The State Government is expected to notify in a few days acquisition of roughly 5 hectares of land from 58 families in the Edachira area of Thrikkakara panchayat for the Smart City project.

Representatives of the Government, the district administration and local units of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) reached an agreement with the evictees' forum on Monday night on the quantum of land to be given as compensation. The agreement will be discussed and approved by the Cabinet, following which it will be notified in the Gazette.

The "land-for-land" clause is being included in a compensation package for the first time in the State. Usually, when the Government acquires land, evictees are paid compensation and, occasionally, given other benefits, such as job offers.

But for the Smart City acquisition, the evictees are offered alternative land, though much smaller than that acquired from them. This is expected to set a precedent.

The Government side reached an understanding with the evictees on almost all issues to be included the compensation package. The only thorny issue that had remained was the size of the alternative land to be given. The evictees had demanded a minimum area of 0.024 hectares for each family and a maximum of 0.044 hectares.

During the discussions, they scaled down their demand, and the Government side scaled up its offer to 0.06 hectares, clinching the deal.

Now, each family will get 0.024 hectares of land "free." But 33 of them, whose lands are larger — up to 0.8 hectares in a couple of cases — , will get an additional 0.002 hectares. The Government will "sell" that to the evictees at the rate at which it will be acquiring land from them. A roughly 1-hectare piece of poramboke land has been found for these families.

Other terms

The other terms include payment of "demolition cost" to raze the houses on the properties to be acquired, "construction cost" to build houses for the evictees on the land to be assigned to them and jobs to at least one member of each family.

However, the job offer is not part of the agreement the Government has signed with the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority, promoters of the Smart City project.

Informal offers for health and education support and so on have been made to some deserving families.

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