- 37 families get compensation for land used for road widening
A man collects cash from the district collectorate in Darjeeling on Monday. Picture by Suman Tamang
Darjeeling, March 18: The West Bengal State Electricity Development Corporation Limited today paid “rental compensation” to 37 families 17 years after the state power company used their land to widen a road near a hydel project site to move machinery.
The WBSEDCL today gave Rs 2,69,089 to the district administration to distribute among the affected families of Lower Bara Pubung Busty, about 45km from Darjeeling town.
Rohit Sharma, the Kurseong Gorkha Janmukti Morcha MLA, said: “In 1995, WBSEDCL had laid a road in the area to ferry their machines to a project site (6km from the village). They (the villagers) were told that a compensation would be given to them within two years but nothing happened.”
The 3MW Mungpoo-Kalikhola hydel project was completed in 1997, sources said, but the villagers did not get any compensation.
“We formed a landlosers’ committee and for 12 years we have been running from pillar to post for our compensation. About a year back, we apprised the Kurseong MLA about our problem,” said B.B. Dahal, president of the committee.
According to Ladup Moktan, the general secretary of the landlosers’ committee, the WBSEDCL had used three acres to widen an existing road. But in 1997, the district administration conducted a survey that revealed 1.19 acre was used for the road expansion.
Gopal Lama, the additional district magistrate of Darjeeling, said: “The land was not acquired so the compensation is being paid by WBSEDCL for using it as they needed to widen the road only to ferry heavy machinery.”
Lama said WBSEDCL had argued that the road was not taken over as WBSEDCL’s property and was now being used by the villagers for their own benefit. “This is why they are being paid rental compensation. This is like a rent for having used the road during the construction phase. The land was not acquired but the compensation is being paid by the WBSEDCL for using it as they needed to widen the road only to ferry heavy machinery,” Lama said.
Today, Rs 2,69,089 was distributed by Sharma and Lama from the district collectorate’s office.
The families received between Rs 2,200 and Rs 18,087, depending on the amount of land that was taken to expand the road. “The cash compensation was paid at the rate of Rs 2,262 per decimal (100 decimals make an acre),” said an official.
Sources said the land reforms department and the power company decided on paying the “rental compensation” basing their calculations on the value of land in 1993-94, which was Rs 2,262 per decimal. The road was widened in 1995.
“The WBSEDCL was of the opinion that they had only widened an existing road to construct a 16ft road and not taken control of the stretch. After much discussion, they agreed to provide compensation for 1.19acre. We are happy that we finally got some amount,” Moktan said.
Compensation for land-losers in Hills
ByDeep Gazmer, TNN
DARJEELING: Thirty-seven families of Lower Bara Pubong Busty in Darjeeling's Mungpo, who had lost their land to make way for a road for the Mungpo-Kalikhola Hydel Porject in 1995, received compensation on Monday from the district administration.
According to Rohit Sharma, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) MLA from Kurseong, an agreement was signed between the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL), the implementing agency, and the land losers for provision of compensation for the land acquired to build a road leading to the project site.
"In 1995 an agreement was made between the WBSEDCL and families who had given their land to build a road.
However, the compensation was never handed out to the land losers. After I came to know about the plight of the affected families, I initiated the process to provide them the compensation at the earliest," Sharma said while handing over the cheques to the 37 thirty-seven families at the Darjeeling DM's office.
In December, last year, compensation was given to 51 fifty-one
people who had lost their land to facilitate the 53 MW Rammam Hydel project in Rimbick-Lodhoma. The compensation was given after fifteen years.
In order to complete the 3 MW Mungpo-Kalikhola project, the WBSEDCL required an access road to the project site. An existing road through the Lower Bara Pubung Busty was widened to 16 feet. As rental compensation, the WBSEDCL agreed to provide Rs 2262 per decimal as per the rates then.
According to the Kurseong MLA, WBSEDCL had utilized a total of 1.19 acres land for widening and construction of the road. As compensation, a compensation of Rs 2.70 lakh was distributed on Monday. While some received a minimum amount of Rs 2200, others got Rs 18000 according to the value of the land they had provided for the road.
Though the land losers were not very excited about the compensation amount, they still expressed gratitude to the MLA for his role in facilitating the process. "We had served a memorandum to the Kurseong MLA who was kind enough to look into the matter. The valuation then and now is not the same but still we are happy that at least we have got something," said B B Dahal, one of the land losers and president of the land losers' committee.
