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| Farmers file petition against State Govt, NHAI | | Ring Road case lands in High Court | |
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Mar 14: After getting lukewarm response by the Government and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) , farmers affected by land acquisition for Semi Ring Road in Kashmir valley have filed a petition before the J&K High Court Srinagar. Farmers have prayed that affected families be compensated 4 times the marked value of land. Details available with Early Times reveal that dozens of farmers filed a writ petition against J&K Govt and NHAI before the J&K High Court through their counsel Advocate M Y Bhat . The case was listed on Wednesday before Justice M K Hanjura. Sources say that counsel for the petitioners prayed that farmers be compensated 4 times the market value of land which is even being agreed by NHAI in their letter dated October 10th 2017 addressed to DC Budgam. Advocate Bhat argued that if the purchaser of the land NHAI have no issues in paying 4 times more compensation why should the State Government have any issues ? In addition to it counsel for the petitioner farmers also prayed before the court that Govt must decide the case only after final outcome of the court orders.
As reported already, after handing over the Semi Ring Road project to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) , the NHAI management has finally allotted the contact to M/S Ramky Infrastructure Ltd. On the other hand farmers are adamant to give their land on the meager compensation and a legal battle has finally began over this issue after Govt gave lukewarm response to the farmers. Sources say that this anti farmer policy adopted by Government and NHAI may lead to serious law and order situation in the villages where from highway work will be taken up in the coming weeks.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued Letter of Award for construction of the proposed Srinagar Semi Ring Road / Bypass from Galander Pampore to Sumbal crossing on the Jammu-Srinagar highway (NH-1A). The Project would be implemented on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Mode with construction period of 36 months, it said.The Project Cost is Rs 939.41. M/s Ramky Infrastructure Ltd is contractor of the project. The entire greenfield alignment has been proposed on the western side of Srinagar City to cater to/provide connectivity to the habitation on that side. As per Government plans the new highway will also provide smooth and easy traffic flow in and around Srinagar City. Vehicles carrying heavy machinery to border/strategic areas of Baramula, Uri, Kupwara, Bandipora and Gandarbal will have an easier, congestion free passage along this route. The new Bypass will pass through 52 villages and 5 Districts (Pulwama, Budgam, Baramulla, Srinagar & Bandipora).
On the other hand farmers affected by ring / semi ring road projects in Jammu / Kashmir valley are adamant to continue their struggle for pushing forward their demands for fair and legitimate compensation. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) as J&K Government are not ready for private negotiations which have been held in past during land acquisition on Udhampur Srinagar Baramulla railway project. Sources say that NHAI has agreed to pay 4 times more compensation than market land in rural areas and 2 times in urban areas provided state of J&K adopts Central Land Acquisition Act of 2013, but has said no to private negotiations.
Affected people / farmers in Pulwama, Budgam, Srinagar and other areas allege that Government is putting a pressure on them to give away their land on very low price. This is creating a public outcry in Jammu as well as in Kashmir region. It is for the first time that farmers of Jammu / Kashmir have united against this move. Under the banner of Ring / Semi Ring Road Land Owners Welfare Committee a joint organization of affected farmers has been created few months back which has members from almost 8 districts of J&K from Kathua to Ganderbal. Sources told Early Times that villagers in Khanda B K Pora tehsil of Budgam booed few JCBs from the village when they began to start the work in the village few weeks back. " We will not allow the construction company to go ahead with the work , nor will we allow them to acquire our land . We want fair compensation to be paid to us " said a farmer Sajad Hussain from Khanda village. Farmers whose land is going to be acquired for Semi Ring road connecting Pampore in South Kashmir with Manigam Ganderbal in North and Central Kashmir via Budgam came on roads in Srinagar several times demanding fair compensation for their land. Farmers from Jammu / Srinagar have got united under a single banner few months back and farmer leaders from Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Budgam, Pulwama, Srinagar addressed a joint press conference in Jammu recently.... |
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