Patiala Facing flak for its failure to begin land acquisition process in Punjab for the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has said that the delay was manageable. The land acquisition process was to be completed by December 2020, and faces further trouble with farmers from 12 districts of the state starting a protest against the NHAI on Wednesday, demanding a halt to land acquisition till the Centre repealed the three farm bills. Farmers also want NHAI to come up with a better offer for the land. The Centre has said that the project must be completed by 2023.
NHAI project director Santosh Kumar Arya said, “The project has been delayed due to hitches in the land acquisition process. The delay, however, is manageable as we are working upon a resolution. We are holding talks with the farmers through representatives of Punjab state government at district levels.”
He added that the compensation reward has not been finalised as yet. “We expect to complete the land acquisition process in 3-4 months. We are coordinating with the state government,” he added.
The ongoing protest over three farm laws and the dissatisfaction of farmers over compensation offered have been major roadblocks. Meanwhile, protesting farmers gathered at the Bhakra canal at Passiana village in Patiala on Wednesday and started their protest for coming five days. The expected total cost of the expressway project is ₹35,000 crore, of which, the NHAI will spend ₹10,000 crore on land acquisition for a 300km stretch in Punjab.
Harmanpreet Singh Jeji, coordinator of Delhi Katra Expressway Kisan Sangharh Committee (DKEKSC), who is sitting at protest in Patiala, said over 200 villages in Patiala, Sangrur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur and Pathankot have already passed a resolution not to give land for the project.
{{/usCountry}}Harmanpreet Singh Jeji, coordinator of Delhi Katra Expressway Kisan Sangharh Committee (DKEKSC), who is sitting at protest in Patiala, said over 200 villages in Patiala, Sangrur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur and Pathankot have already passed a resolution not to give land for the project.
{{/usCountry}}“The farmers are being offered peanuts for selling their land. The NHAI has offered ₹9.67 lakh per acre compensation, which was later revised to ₹18 lakh. However, after the state government implemented the method multiplication factor for land acquisition, many farmers were offered ₹55 lakh,” he claimed.
In January, aiming to break the deadlock over the issue and low prices offered being offered in the acquisition process, the state government had notified new multiplication factors (with which market value is to be multiplied) under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, but the issue remains unresolved issue so far.
As per the detailed project report, the project will promote religious tourism as the road will connect two important holy cities—Katra-Vaishno Devi and Amritsar— before it teaches Delhi. Though the expressway will reduce the distance between Delhi and Katra by just 40-km, it will reduce the travel time from the present 11 hours to around six hours. The travel time from Delhi to Amritsar will be around four hours.
The Expressway will also provide shortest connectivity to important Sikh shrines at Dera Baba Nanak, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib and Tarn Taran.