HC order paves way for Chhattisgarh's biggest township

Chhattisgarh's ambitious township project Kamal Vihar would finally see the light of day as the High Court rejected the petitions filed against the land acquisition for the project.

Kamal Vihar, an ambitious township project, would come up at the outskirts of the capital city in the line of modern housing projects in Chandigarh, Noida and Ahmedabad. The township will be set up in 15 sectors in a sprawling 1,600 acres of land with an estimated cost of about Rs 816 crore. Raipur Development Authority (RDA) will execute the project.

The plan considered to be one of the biggest township projects in the country was mooted in 2009. But it soon hit the legal hurdle as land losers starting moving to the court of law challenging the land acquisition for the project. The project was themed to first develop infrastructure in the area and then settle the population.

The model project would take away land from 5,095 people. And return, they would get 35 to 58 per cent of the land given in the developed sector as per the provisions of the project. The beneficiaries would get the land free of cost.

Of the total land losers, 32 moved to the High Court (HC) challenging the land acquisition. In September 2011, the court stayed the process that landed the ambitious project under the lens. Out of 32 petitioners, nine withdrew their application after reportedly getting influenced with the project.

"The Chhattisgarh High Court on Monday rejected the remaining 23 petitioners," RDA spokesperson Pritpal Singh said. The details of the court judgment were awaited, he said, adding that the development would now clear the ways to speed up the work of project.

The Kamal Vihar project would have world-class infrastructure. Besides state's first central business district (CBD) in some 20 acres of area, the project would have 235 acres reserved for entertainment projects that would be taken up on public private partnership (PPP) model.