Baliapal: Ahead of the Rs 5,000-crore proposed port at Choumukh across Subarnarekha under Baliapal block in Balasore district, hundreds of acres of farmland are being acquired for a railway project to connect the port from Amarda road.
Meanwhile, farmers, demanding appropriate compensation for their land, held a meeting at Srirampur Tuesday. Presided over by Narayana Prasad Sahu, president of Baliapal Barista Nagarika Parishad, the meeting deliberated upon issues related to compensation for the project oustees.
Farmers along with intellectuals discussed various issues related to farmers who will lose their land for the port and the railway project.
They said the government should pay five times the price initially fixed for an acre. They said there should be equal compensation for the left out land (the part of land parcel) also.
“The government should specially consider the price of the land close to the roads. Compensation for the trees in farmland would be fixed and paid to the owners,” they observed.
The farmers also said that the company executing the projects should provide jobs to each of the land-losing families, apart from annual royalty.
It was decided at the meeting that a delegation of farmers will take up these issues with the collector, Parliament member and local MLAs.
Notably, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation for the port well before the general elections.
Survey for land acquisition for the railway project has been completed. The Railway Ministry had given approval to the DPR of the railway project.
The Commerce and Transport Department has also approved the DPR July 15, 2019.
It is said that the company which will execute the project has started preliminary work of land acquisition. Officials meet farmers who are to spare their land for the projects.
Farmers said that as some outfits had earlier opposed the port project, the administration should take them into confidence before starting land acquisition.
PNN
