Hundreds of people under the banner of Khyotigrosto Suraksha Samiti Joutho Mancha(KSSJM) on Saturday staged a protest in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office seeking higher compensation for their land acquired for construction of National Highway 52(B).
According to KSSJM, under the Land Acquisition Act, farmers are entitled to better compensation and rehabilitation benefits in lieu of land compulsorily acquired by the government.
“The farmers should get better compensation because our land has been acquired by the government for construction of NH 52(B). However, close to 200 families from seven revenue villages in Barbarua(west) and Bogibeel have been denied compensation. The families are demanding the release of Rs 7 crore but even after several pleas they are not getting compensation,” Balindra Saikia, a member of KSSJM said.
Barbarua is at a 7km from Bogibeel and construction work of a railway bridge is going on in the area. “We have protested and the ongoing construction of bridge at Bogibeel was stopped. We demand for the release of our compensation,” a farmer of Bogibeel said.
Moreover, government had acquired the land for the construction of highway, popularly known as the Trans-Arunachal Highway, implemented by the road Transport and Highway Ministry under the special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the Northeast.
The two lane highway is meant to connect all the district headquarters and major towns of Arunachal Pradesh extending from Tawang in West to Kanubari in the east, around 100 km of the 1,800 km highway falls in Assam, including a stretch of 64 km in Dibrugarh district.
“Several months have passed but till date district administration has not released the compensation. We demand that within March, 2018, compensation should be released. Actually Railway should give us the compensation because construction of railway bridge is going on in the area and the project belongs to Railway as they have acquired the land,” a member of KSSJM said.
The protesters submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Laya Madduri seeking immediate release of compensation.