BENGALURU: Delay in the acquisition of eight acres of private land is now dragging the completion of land acquisition for the 72.1-km Metro’s Phase-II project.The government is set to take a final call on the matter shortly. Barring the land required for three of its depots, BMRCL has completed most of the land acquisition for Phase-II.
While the doubling of compensation to be paid under the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 has ensured willingness on the part of landowners to part with their properties for infrastructure projects, an agreement on the right compensation to be paid to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) authorities has not been sorted yet. Eight acres of land that the BMRCL needs is in the possession of NICE.
According to a senior BMRCL official, these are the land requirements for the various stretches in the eight acres: Nagasandra to BIEC (Reach III) 6 acres; RV Road to Bommasandra (Reach V): 7,800 square metres; Mysuru Road to Kengeri (Reach II): 544 sqm and Yelachenahalli to Anjanapura Township (Reach IV): 200 sqm.
According to BMRCL, there is no clarity as to whom the compensation has to be paid now.“NICE has the sale deed only for nearly two acres. The group is yet to pay the compensation to the owners for nearly six acres of land it had acquired over a decade ago for its NICE Road,” the official alleged.The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) has not yet passed the award on the acquired land. According to Special Deputy Commissioner (Land Acquisition) at KIADB, S N Balachander, the issue will be sorted within two to three weeks.
A spokesman from NICE said, “If BMRCL pays us a compensation on par with the market value, we are willing to hand over the land to them.”So will this delay Phase-II’s deadline of 2021?
BMRCL’s Managing Director Mahendra Jain said, “Rounds of discussions have been held with NICE representatives. The government will sort the issue within a month and the acquisition will be on track.”
“We are confident of meeting the deadline,” he added.