MARGAO
Opposition MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Digambar and anti-track doubling activists called on South Goa district Collector, South Ruchika Katyal, IAS and made a strong plea to keep the land acquisition before the deputy Collector, Vasco on hold, on a host of grounds, including that the land acquisition is illegal and the project is not notified as a special railway project.
The delegation also impressed upon the district Collector that the land acquisition is sought to be acquired by the railways without proper demarcations and measurements.
The delegation comprising of Kamat, Goa Forward MLAs Vijai Sardesai and Jayesh Salgaokar, NCP MLA Churchill Alemao, Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco and Sanguem Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar submitted a memorandum to the district Collector, drawing his attention that the land acquisition process being undertaken by the deputy Collector, Vasco for the track-doubling project is incorrect, pointing out that the LA process to be undertaken under the Railway Act warrants that the whole project has to be declared as a special railway project and not a small section covering few patches of land.
They further pointed out that the land acquisition under the Railway Act will require joint measurements to be conducted involving railway representative, state revenue authorities as well as the land owners, adding that since many of these land owners are not readily traceable, such joint measurements cannot be conducted.
“Acquiring different stretches of land in the same project by two separate organizations under different Acts would lead to discrepancies to assessment of land compensation which will give rise to disputes”, the memorandum said.
Even as the delegation requested the district Collector to cancel the personal hearings scheduled on Thursday, Collector Ruchika said she will take a decision on the matter after consulting the Revenue department.
Digambar, Churchill, Vijai and Reginaldo also raised questions on the modus operandi adopted by the Railways to acquire the land under different laws, saying that injustice will be meted out to the land owners on the question of compensation, as the owners will receive compensation in varying amounts because of the wrong land acquisition process.
