Residents of 12 villages protest delayed land compensation

Residents of 12 villages in Sultanpur Lodhi are protesting against the authorities for failing to provide enhanced compensation for the acquisition of their farm lands under the Bharat Mala Project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

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The land of 300 villagers from Ugrupur, Deepewal, Gillan, Randhirpur, Wadhel Khuda Bax Wala, Harnampur Wadhel, Meera, Lau, Khokhar Jadeed, Masitan, Amanipur and Tibbe was acquired for the Jamnagar-Bathinda-Amritsar Expressway. The villagers expressed their dissatisfaction with the compensation amount right after the acquisition, which took place about three years ago. At that time, the administration told them to hand over possession of the land and seek an enhancement through arbitration against the NHAI.

Diyal Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and Bachan Singh, residents of Deepewal village, presented documents showing that after arbitration in the court of the Divisional Commissioner in Jalandhar, an enhanced compensation of Rs 3.44 lakh per acre was announced. Initially, they had received Rs 17.21 lakh per acre, but after a 20 per cent increase, the compensation was raised to Rs 20.65 lakh per acre. The decision, made by the now-retired Divisional Commissioner Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal, was pronounced on December 18 last year.

The court of the Divisional Commissioner had ordered the Competent Authority-cum-Land Acquisition Collector of Sultanpur Lodhi to verify the ownership of the properties before releasing the compensation to the claimants. The court further directed that the difference between the awarded amount and what had already been paid be disbursed preferably within a month of the order.

However, the villagers said that even though three months have passed since the order, they have yet to receive the enhanced compensation. They have formed a Road Sangharsh Committee and submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar Panchal. The committee members reported that the Kapurthala administration had assured them that it would take up the matter with the NHAI for the additional compensation.