Kerala - Kochi   

Vallarpadam: more owners agree to give up land

KOCHI: Giving a fillip to the efforts to complete the land acquisition process for the rail connectivity for the proposed Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal project, the remaining landowners at Mulavukad village agreed to surrender their land.

Fourteen landowners, who are yet to handover the land, have agreed to submit the consent letters to the district administration by Thursday.

This was decided at a meeting convened by District Collector M. Beena on Wednesday to present the rehabilitation package approved by the State government before the landowners of Mulavukad, Cheranalloor and Eloor villages.

Seventy-five landowners in these villages are yet to surrender their land for the project.

The landowners who attended the meeting while welcoming the allocation of rent and shifting allowance expressed disappointment about the package in general.

The breakthrough came after Dr. Beena promised the families from Mulavukad village that she would bring their demand for enhanced value for their land before the notice of the State government.

The Mulavukad grama panchayat authorities conveyed their readiness to handover rehabilitation land to those displaced at the earliest.

Panchayat authorities also expressed their willingness to find additional land for the displaced if their demand for increasing rehabilitation land from four cents to six cents was not met by the State government.

Meanwhile, the landowners from Cheranalloor who were yet to surrender land for the rail connectivity said that they would reach a final decision only after the High Court verdict on the case regarding the issue.

Landowners from Cheranalloor and Eloor villages who would be displaced for the road connectivity said that they would convey their final decision by Thursday.

Landowners from these three villages have been demanding a rehabilitation package along the lines of the one offered to those displaced for the project at Moolamppilly as a precondition for giving up their land.

While the package approved by the State government accepted the demand for Rs. 60,000 as rent and shifting charges, the claim for increasing the rehabilitation land from four cents to six cents was turned down.

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