NHAI delayed land acquisition: Punjab CM Mann in reply to Gadkari
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann further pointed out that there were several cases in which possession of land was given to NHAI, but the NHAI contractors took a long time to mobilise their machinery and start the work
Three days after Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari warned the Punjab government to improve law and order or lose eight highway projects, chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday blamed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the delay in land acquisition and the two incidents of threats and violence in Jalandhar and Ludhiana on causes attributable to its concessionaire/ contractor.
In a letter to Gadkari, Mann, while reiterating his government’s commitment to NHAI and speedy execution of highway projects, said the two cases stemmed from causes attributable to the concessionaire/ contractor. He said that in both cases, the local police promptly registered the FIRs under relevant provisions of law and arrests were made.
“On investigation, it has been found that one incident was the outcome of over-excavation of land by NHAI concessionaire/contractor. The second incident was the outcome of non-payment of financial dues by the concessionaire/contractor to its sub-contractor,” he wrote back.
Mann also assured the Union minister that irrespective of all this, Punjab Police was committed to taking care of the safety concerns of NHAI and local police had been directed to deploy patrolling teams in the area to maintain law and order.
Gadkari, in a hard-hitting letter to the chief minister on August 9, warned that NHAI will have no other option but to cancel/terminate eight severely affected highway projects in Punjab with a total length of 293 km costing ₹14,288 crore, if the law and order situation does not improve in the state. He had raised concerns over threats and incidents of violence, specifically flagging two incidents wherein NHAI staff and contractors working on the Delhi-Katra Expressway were assaulted and threatened, and insisted on strong action against the perpetrators, besides the pending land acquisition issues. NHAI has already terminated three projects in Punjab with a total length of 104 km and costing ₹23,263 crore.
Replying to the central minister’s letter, Mann said the state government had been proactively supporting NHAI in land acquisition and other related matters, adding that this was the reason, that barring a few exceptions, most of the NHAI projects in the state were on track. However, the CM put the onus of delay in land acquisition on NHAI and its proclivity to challenge or take time in accepting the arbitrator’s award. He said that farmers, being deeply attached to their land as it is their main source of livelihood, were reluctant to part with their lands if they felt that the compensation was not adequate. “There are a number of cases in which the farmers were satisfied with the awards given by the arbitrators and were willing to hand over the possession of their lands to NHAI at the awarded rates. However, NHAI chose to challenge the arbitrator’s award or took an inordinately long time in accepting the award. This delayed the acquisition process,” the chief minister wrote.
Mann further pointed out that there were several cases in which possession of land was given to NHAI, but the NHAI contractors took a long time to mobilise their machinery and start the work. “In between, the farmers started cultivating the land again. Once the state authorities have given the possession of land to NHAI, it is the duty of NHAI or its contractors to maintain the possession,” reads the letter.
The CM said that on his directions, the chief secretary was already holding regular review meetings with the deputy commissioners and regional office of NHAI to resolve the bottlenecks being faced by NHAI. “In addition, I personally plan to engage with the farmers on this issue,” he added.