LOKMAT NEWS NETWORK
Nashik, Nov 28
The land acquisition for the Surat-Chennai greenfield highway passing through six talukas of Nashik district is progressing at a very slow pace due to assessments and family disputes. The administration has faced a major challenge in completing the process of land acquisition due to alleged incorrect assessment, low amount of compensation, and opposition from the farmers' action committee to get five times compensation. According to the greenfield highway concept of the union government, the land acquisition has been announced for the Chennai-Surat six-lane highway and 996 hectares of land will be acquired for the highway passing through Nashik district. Since the highway will pass through the villages of six talukas of Surgana, Peth, Dindori, Nashik, Niphad and Sinnar, the process of land acquisition has started. However, farmers have started protesting against the highway passing through Nashik taluka. While the administration is confident that the process will be completed by next year, the farmers are adamant that they will not give up even an inch of land if they do not get adequate compensation.
The stretch of the highway passing from the Nashik district is 122 kilometres and due to this highway, the distance from Nashik to Surat will come down to just 176 kilometres. The project that has been in progress since 2021, will also help boost the development of Nashik. However, the farmers have started protesting, alleging that low rates have been announced for the land valuation and horticulture sector. Apart from four farmers in Nashik taluka, no one else has received the compensation, which has created an embarrassment for the administration.
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Social Impact Study
The affected farmer Rajaram Kandekar has claimed that no social impact study was done while announcing the land acquisition due to the announced rate of arable and horticultural land, the highway passing near the farm and the house, and the proposed highway will divide the vineyards in two parts.
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Ownership dispute
The plots of the land to be acquired have the names of many heirs on the documents. While giving notice of land acquisition of such lands, it was expected to call the owners of the sub-shares and settle the same. The compensation of Rs15 lakh per acre of land has been announced. However, alleging that the compensation amount is not right, the farmers of the taluka have not even accepted the notice, so land acquisition is going to be difficult.