Farmers hit jackpot, NHAI projects take off

The stalled, terminated or withdrawn highway projects of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Punjab have started taking off, one after another. The latest being the 37.7 km Ludhiana-Ropar highway to be built at a cost of Rs 2,900 crore.

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This has been made possible after the possession of acquired land parcels for these projects has been taken from farmers, who had been protesting against “unfair” compensation for their land. Investigations by The Tribune revealed that the farmers started vacating their land after they were paid a whopping 600 per cent higher compensation. Earlier, the Centre had warned the state that if it failed to take possession of the acquired land, the stalled NHAI projects would be either be terminated or withdrawn. This forced the state to swing into action to retain the big-ticket projects.

From Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to Chief Secretary Anurag Verma and DGP Gaurav Yadav, the state’s top functionaries took charge of the matter that came into the spotlight after a series of reports in The Tribune. They charged the district authorities and engaged with the protesting farmers to free 318.37 km of land from their possession and hand it over to the NHAI in a smooth and peaceful manner.

Resultantly, over 125 acres of land had been provided to the NHAI for reviving 37 stalled highway projects in the last about five months. With this, over 90 per cent of the total acquired land had been possessed by the state.

Investigations revealed how the protesting farmers were offered a compensation of over Rs 85 lakh per acre, which was 600 per cent more than the initial awards of around Rs 12 lakh per acre to vacate their lands.

In Ludhiana district, 12.75 km land acquired under the NHAI’s flagship Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway was released from the possession of the farmers after offering them enhanced compensation ranging between Rs 81 lakh and Rs 85 lakh per acre.

Records show that the highest compensation of Rs 85,15,000 per acre was offered to take possession of 1.38 acre in Kalakh, 0.77 acre in Kot Agga, 0.6 acre in Lohgarh and 1.83 acre in Ballowal village against the initial award of Rs 12,18,627 to Rs 12,84,627 per acre.

Similarly, 2.55 acre in Chhappar, 1.85 acre in Dhurkot, 0.1 acre in Ranguwal and 1.75 acre in Juraha village was taken over after paying an enhanced compensation of Rs 81.44 lakh per acre against the initial award of Rs 12,18,627 per acre announced in 2021-22.

At Gujjarwal village, 3.3 acre was freed from “illegal” possession after paying Rs 84.16 lakh per acre against initial the award of Rs 12,18,627 per acre.

“Since the farmers were not ready to part with their land, we were left with no option but to offer them enhanced compensation through an arbitration method,” a senior official on the condition of anonymity said.