The Haryana government has decided to acquire private land required for the Gurugram metro corridor under the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, after most landowners declined to sell their parcels under the state’s newly formed direct purchase policy, officials said on Sunday.
The decision was taken at a high powered committee meeting last month chaired by Haryana chief secretary Anurag Rastogi, during which the Gurugram metro project was reviewed. To be sure, under the direct-purchase policy, the government sought to buy the required land through negotiations, with owners free to agree on the sale price and other terms. However, demands for higher compensation, alternative plots and jobs, along with multiple ownership of some parcels, stalled the process. The move is aimed at preventing delays to the Gurugram Metro project. The committee also directed agencies to shift utilities within timelines.
Directions were also issued to agencies to ensure that utilities falling in the alignment of Phase One, from Millennium City Centre to Sector 9, are shifted at the earliest, a government official aware of the matter said. The GMRL requires over 10,500 square-metre of land in Islampur, Basai and Kanhai villages. Of the total requirement, the metro needs 8,600 sq m in Islampur, 1,696 sq m in Basai and 534 sq m in Kanhai. The government will now acquire the land under the 2013 law, allowing it to proceed without the consent of every owner after following due process and determining compensation and rehabilitation benefits. NHAI said power feeders and the water pipeline between Hero Honda Chowk and Umang Bhardwaj Chowk will be shifted by December 31 this year. GMDA has asked the gas pipeline utility to be shifted by October 31, the official said.
Despite multiple meetings with landowners, only a few have recently consented to sell their land under the direct purchase policy, the official said. “It has been decided that this land will be acquired under Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 and urban estates department will initiate the process to acquire this land,” the official said. An official of the land acquisition department had earlier said owners had sought alternative plots, jobs in the metro and higher compensation. “There are several owners and partners in these land parcels, which had made purchase difficult,” he said.
