Correspondent
RUKSIN, 10 Nov: The East Siang district administration, the NF Railway, the state’s land management department, panchayat leaders and members of the BG Railway Project Affected Land Owner Association in a meeting here in East Siang district on Wednesday resolved to conduct a ground level property survey to expedite the Murkongselek-Pasighat broad-gauge (BG) railway project.
During the meeting, Ruksin ADC Tajing Jonnom requested the railway officials and the project-affected landowners to engage in negotiations related to claims and objections regarding payment of compensation against the second phase of the railway project in order to expedite the project.
Land Management Joint Director Relish Jini said that “the land compensation process against the rail project, which was scheduled to be completed in 2018, is delayed due to controversy over fixation of land value.”
Saying that the problems over payment of land value compensation against assets damaged for the railway project can be resolved through negotiation, Jini sought every stakeholder’s support in the matter.
He informed that the land management department will conduct a joint survey of the assets along the BG railway. The survey team will comprise officials from the district administration and the land management department, NFR engineers and the PRI leaders of the district.
The district administration has asked the affected landowners to “clear the track for movement of the survey team within two-three days.” The survey will start on 15 November.
One of the project-affected farmers, Rani ZPM Besing Tatin, lamented that the names of 31 railway project-affected families, out of the total of 100, were omitted in the 2017 notification issued by the land management department. He demanded that the authority include their names before the payment of land value and other assets is processed.
The Mangnang-Sille-Rani-Takilalung Land Owners Association also urged the deputy commissioner to “make resurvey to include the missing names in the land owners’ list.”
Among others, DLRSO Kamin Darang, Ruksin EAC Jacob Tabing, NFR Executive Engineer (Construction, Silapathar) S Das, ZPMs and project-affected farmers attended the meeting.
