Award for land in Dhanas, Dadu Majra postponed

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 18

UT Land acquisition collector today postponed the decision to announce award or compensation to landowners for acquisition of land in Dhanas and Dadu Majra, days after the matter came under judicial scanner.

The land is being acquired to connect Dakshin Marg to ‘PR-4’ in Punjab. A petition challenging the acquisition, among other things, had alleged that value of land belonging to politicians and bureaucrats there would increase by several crore. It was also alleged that another road connecting Punjab to Dakashin Marg in Chandigarh was just 2 km from the proposed connecting road and the acquisition would not serve public purpose but amounted urbanisation.

The officer, on March 13 had made public his decision to announce the award on May 18 following which the landlords already before the Punjab and Haryana High Court moved an application against the move.

Available information suggests that the landowners were told that the announcement of the award was being deferred. Hearing counsel Charanpal Singh Bagri for the landlords almost at the same time, the High Court Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli issued notice on the admission seeking stay on announcement.

UT standing counsel Aakanksha Sawhney accepted the notice on behalf of the respondents and prayed for time to file a response of the contentions, following which the matter was adjourned to July 14.

The new bypass or PR-4 will take off from high-level bridge at Dadu Majra to the UT boundary on the Mullanpur side. The proposed road will come up on 18.13 acres to be acquired in Dadu Majra and Dhanas.

Bagri had earlier contended on behalf of Jaspal Singh and other petitioners that numerous residential and commercial projects were being setup by ‘famous private companies and builders’ in Punjab abutting the PR-4 road.