KAKKANAD: The district administration is planning to employ ‘forcible method of land acquisition’ for acquiring land from the firm, Malabar Gold, to prevent further delay in completing the land acquisition process for the Metro Rail project.
“A meeting will be held on Wednesday to discuss the price. If they continue to stick to their stand we will move to ‘forcible method’ of land acquisition,” an official said.
Roughly one acre of land has to be acquired from Malabar Gold for the Edappally station construction. The district administration had fixed `31.6 lakh per cent for the land to be acquired from the area through a district-level purchasing committee (DLPC) and the owners were willing to surrender their land. But later, Malabar Gold backtracked from the deal.
“The district administration called a meeting with authorities of the firm several times, but the latter did not respond. Moreover, they also negotiated the price and wanted double the amount of that fixed as compensation for the land. We are left with no other option than to go for the forcible method,” said an official with the district administration.
The District Collector, who also wields executive magistrate’s powers, can acquire land in situations of emergency for crucial projects within 48 hours after issuing a notice to the party. The acquisitions will be based on the 1894 LA Act section 17.
So far, over 80 per cent of land has been acquired for the project, but the acquisition of the remaining 20 per cent has been moving at a snail’s pace owing to some hurdles. Apart from Malabar Gold, the Oriental Timbers that is also not willing to surrender their land will be accosted by the forcible method.
“A court intervention is prevailing in the case of Oriental Timbers. After getting legal advice from the authorities concerned action will be taken against them,” he said.
A few weeks ago, the District Collector acquired land from Pathadipalam using forcible method after issuing a 48-hour notice. It is learnt that the district administration is also gearing up to complete the land acquisition by the end of this month in order to avoid further delay.