Railway project affected farmers paid Rs16 crore

YAVATMAL: Decks have been cleared for floating tender for construction of railway track and station at

Kalamb

on new line between Sevagram (Wardha) and Nanded via Yavatmal as 125 farmers have been directly paid over Rs16 crore for the lands that have been acquired for the project.

Giving the information to media on Monday, land acquisition officer (LAO)

Vijay Bhakre

said the Yavatmal district collector, LAO and railway authorities distributed the amount during two separate camps held in Ghoti, Chaparda, Kalamb and Thalegaon villages in Kalamb tehsil recently. The deputy chief engineer of Central railway attended the camps.

The land acquisition from Wardha to Yavatmal tehsil border is completed and process for Yavatmal tehsil is in progress,

Bhakre

said. He added that the length of the track till Darwha tehsil border is 58km, out of which 22.94km will be constructed in the first phase.

There are over 1,100 farmers in Yavatmal tehsil. The land to be acquired is 600 hectares at the cost Rs 150 crore, said Bhakre.

According to district collector Sachindra Pratap Singh, the administration has received clearance under ‘Social Impact Assessment (SIA) Rule’ and ‘Special Railway Project status’ to purchase the land at market rate from the farmers in May 2016 from the Railway Ministry and the notification was issued on June 1, 2016.

“In Kalamb tehsil we acquired 110 hectares at 4.2 times the ready reckoner rates,” Singh said, adding that similar camps for distributing compensation to farmers would be held in every village.

“Though we have three years, we could complete the process in 10 months,” Bhakre said, adding that the compensation will be paid directly to farmers to middle man and ensure a fair and transparent transaction as envisaged under ‘The Right to Fair and Transparent Transaction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Rules, 2013’.

“We have distributed necessary documents and project affected person certificates to farmers so that they don’t have to visit the office for the same,” he added.