Koraput: The Centre’s ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana project, sanctioned in 2017, passing through Koraput and Nabarangpur districts, is facing land hurdles. The district administration of Koraput has initiated efforts to clear the bottlenecks and hasten the work.
It has sought a detailed report about the land acquisition and compensation from the officials concerned within seven days. At a review meeting on the project, the Collector had directed tehsildars and other officials, to submit survey reports within seven days.
The survey will cover acres of government, private land to be acquired, trees to be cut and the number of people to be affected in the project area. The executive engineer and officials of the NHAI were present at the review meeting.
It may be noted here that under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, Raipur-Vishakhapatnam NH is being laid through Koraput. The project envisages a 464-km four-lane national highway which will be constructed from Raipur in Chhattisgarh to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Around 125 km of the national highway will pass through 58 villages in Borrigumma, Koraput, Dasmantpur, Semiliguda and Potangi blocks. The NH will pass through 70 villages in Nabarangpur and 59 villages in Koraput. The total outlay for the project has been estimated at Rs 8092 crore.
Notably, the Raipur-Vishakhapatnam NH project sanctioned in 2017 has been hanging fire due to a host of problems like public resistance to land acquisition and delay in obtaining forest clearance.
During a public hearing by the district administration, people of Borrigumma, Koraput, Damantpur, Semiliguda and Potangi had demanded proper rehabilitation package including land for land, existing value of proposed land to be acquired and jobs for land losers.
Many tribals, who are going to lose their land, made it clear that they would not agree to the value proposed by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for land to be acquired in these five blocks.
Earlier, members of the Bharatmala Jami Surakhya Manch had submitted a memorandum to NHAI through the Collector for right compensation for their land.
The Odisha portion of the 6-lane expressway will have a length of 240.37 km and pass through Nabarangpur and Koraput districts. The NHAI has already completed the survey for the project but land acquisition is yet to start.
PNN