The Hindu : Kerala News : End in sight to a far from smooth process

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Friday, Nov 16, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

End in sight to a far from smooth process

With the foundation stone-laying function of the proposed Smart City project to be held on Friday, the district administration has completed the acquisition procedures of the entire 246 acres earmarked for the project. So far the government has spent Rs.59.7 crore for land acquisition.

Lease deed for 234.53 acres would be handed over to Tecom, revenue and Infopark officials said. Though the remaining over 11 acres have already been acquired, the inhabitants were yet to be moved out. Steps are on for their speedy rehabilitation, the officials said.

The land

The land earmarked for the project included 100.65 acres owned by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) land at Brahmapuram and 13.94 acres of Kinfra acquired under the provisions of Transfer of Land.

The acquisition procedures started in 2003 with the purchasing of 116 acres from private landowners. The process was far from smooth, as the people affected were generally against the project.

It was only after the authorities threatened to invoke the Land Acquisition Act that the landowners of the 116 acres came to the table for negotiations, a senior revenue official said.

Rehabilitation package

Following this, the State government drew up a rehabilitation package and the landowners accepted the price fixed by the district-level purchase committee.

Those who had houses on the acquired land were made beneficiaries of the rehabilitation scheme. However, those who lost only land were not eligible.

Of the 20 acres acquired, the process of which started in 2005, landowners of six acres raised a banner of revolt. They were not eligible for rehabilitation as they did not have houses on the land.

There were only three houses in the 20 acres. As they were financially sound, they opted out of rehabilitation, the revenue official said.

Litigation

The protesting landowners approached the court but lost the case. Following this, the district administration acquired the land by depositing the money in the court.

The main demand put forth by the protesting landowners was exemption of their land or alternative land at Edachira itself.

However, the authorities said there was no provision of land for land in the rehabilitation programme accepted by the government.

M.P. P.

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