Parties agree on land acquisition for proposed highway

Statesman News Service

MALDA, June 30: The Malda district administration with the support of all political party leaders has accepted the proposed project of 9.25 km bypass road, an alternative to the national highway 34, in Malda. The political leaders and other concerned officers have agreed to start acquisition of land for construction of the proposed express highway, under the National Highway Development Project III (NHDP) from Jadupur in English Bazaar to Narayanpur (Chaki More) in Old Malda block. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has estimated Rs.229 crore for the construction of the highway under the BOT project (Build, Operate and Transfer). The land would be acquired based on National Highway Act 1956, officials said. On Saturday, the Malda district magistrate, Mr C R Das convened an urgent all party meeting to adopt a resolution on the project and the house unanimously accepted the second proposal as the ‘best alternative’ The project director, NHAI, Mr Srikumar Bhattacharya said, “We will have to complete land acquisition and pre-construction activities by 2008.” At all political party meeting, the Trinamul leader urged the district magistrate not to acquire land forcibly. On the other hand, the representatives of Malda Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce (MMCC) urged the administration to reconsider the value of land to be acquired for this project at Narayanpur, an industrial belt.“If the government acquires their “land, compensation will be calculated based on future values of those plots of lands”, they said.