Trans Arunachal Highway Proj: Cong demands immediate release

The Congress in Arunachal Pradesh today protested the purported move of the Kalikho Pul government to discontinue the "fair and adequate" compensation to the effected people of the Trans Arunachal Highway Project in the state.
"The dream of AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi came into reality when his crusade against unfair and inadequate compensation to the farmers, land owners and livelihood losers for their acquired land was done away with the passing and enactment of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 in the Parliament by the UPA government," Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Padi Richo said in a statement here.

"In 2013 under the UPA's regime, the National Highway Authority of India fixed the rate at Rs 8,464 per sq m for dry land with PWD road access, Rs 7,618 per sq m for dry land with Panchayat road access, Rs 6,671 per sq m for dry land without road access and Rs 5,925 per sq m for wet land.
"Apart from the said Act, the Tribal Forest Act entitles the tribal people four times higher rates than the normal beneficiaries considering the unavailability of adequate farming land as most of the areas of tribal dominated region falls in hilly terrain with hostile climatic conditions," Richo pointed out.

Richo asked the state government to immediately release and pay the long due land compensation to the affected people so that the construction agencies engaged in Trans Arunachal Highways could complete the project on time, the statement added.