News: Land Owners Agree To Payoff, Drain Widening Back On Track-13.04.2017
Land owners agree to payoff, drain widening back on track
Bagish Jha| TNN | Updated: Apr 13, 2017, 02.42 AM IST
GURUGRAM: Huda has managed to win over those land owners in Khandsa village who were reluctant to give up their land for the widening of Badshapur drain, by enhancing the compensationamount for their residential structures. On Wednesday, Huda allotted alternative plots to all 35 land owners of Khandsa in Sector 37, paving the way for widening the drain before monsoon.
From a total of Rs 3.45 crore Huda was earlier offering as compensation for the 35 structures, it is now going to offer Rs 8 crore. Land owners will also be given free equivalent size of land in exchange, as per the special land exchange programme.
Thirty of the 35 residents had already given consent, but the remaining five were reluctant to vacate the land, leading to delay in starting the drain widening work. Residents insisted on being given compensation for their residential structures as per current market rate, so they could build new houses with that. Huda was offering a depreciated value.
"Most of the parties had given their consent in writing, but they were unhappy with the compensation amount. They said it was not commensurate with the expenditure they will incur in building a new house at current rates, and asked for its revision," said Huda administrator Yashpal Yadav.
Estate officer-I Vivek Kalia said after inspecting the area and interacting with affected parties, the department decided to view their case sympathetically. Kalia said a proposal for enhanced compensation was forwarded to the state government two days ago. It was quickly approved on principle. "We'll give physical possession of the Sector 37C land to Khandsa residents in a few days," said Kalia.
Meanwhile, Huda had considered using the emergency clause to acquire the land. The project had already been downsized from the initial 30m (10m on each side to add to the existing 10m wide drain) to 20m, with only one side to be widened.
Huda had planned to acquire 5 acres by shifting 80 houses in Khandsa to widen Badshapur drain. Of these, 35 are on one side of the drain, the remaining 45 on the other. The 39.96km long Badshapur drain narrows down from 30m to 10m at Khandsa, reducing its carrying capacity from 1,200 cusec to just 500 cusec. In certain areas of Khandsa, it narrows down to a mere 4-5m, preventing water flowing into it from across the city to pass through at expected pace, leading to overflow and waterlogging. During monsoon, over 1,000 cusec water flows into the drain, causing flooding at HH Chowk, service roads and sectors 33-34.
