Farmers opposed the Green Corridor Project after District Collector announced rates of Salem Expressway

SALEM: Ms. Rohini P Bhajibhakare The Salem district collector on Friday announced that landowners who part with their lands for the proposed 'green corridor' Salem-Chennai expressway project, will each get a fair compensation ranging from a minimum of Rs 21.52 lakh to a maximum of Rs 9.04 crore per hectare based on the market value of their respective pieces of land.

Speaking to the reporters, she said, “the Salem to Chennai green corridor highway project for 277.30 kilometer is planned to be implemented with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore under the 'Bharatmala Pariyojana'. Since 400 hectares of Government poramboke land would be acquired for the project, only few numbers of houses and buildings would be affected. Land owners would be sanctioned adequate compensation in range of two to four times the market value as per the new Land Acquisition Act.”

Dr Rohini said that the land acquisition process had been started with a road width estimation of 70 metres wide. “About 248 hectares of land is likely to be acquired from Salem district including from 11 villages in Salem taluk, four villages in Salem South taluk and five villages in Vazhapadi taluk. Totally, 186 hectares of private lands from those 20 villages would be acquired along with 46 hectares of poramboke land and 16 hectare from reserved forest area,” the collector explained.

Dr Rohini further said that the officials have further surveyed 126 hectares of land including 853 'patta lands' in 11 villages so far. “Nearly 18 kilometers were covered under the survey and boundary stones were fixed. Nearly 90 per cent of patta land owners provided complete cooperation for the survey and the remaining 10 percent of them demanded higher compensation to give their lands,” she stated.

The collector said besides being opposed by few people, some were conveying 'wrong news' to the public and media regarding the project. She called upon the public to not believe any such rumours. She also said, “the order has been given to sanction two times higher than market rate as compensation in urban areas and also four times in rural areas. If anyone has concrete house on 500 square feet area with trees can get up to Rs 27.50 lakh compensation. If any cattle shed is affected, compensation of Rs 25,000 would be given. Persons who vacate the houses will get Rs 3,000 per month for a year along with other forms of assistance for their rehabilitation.”

Dr Rohini announced that additional compensation would be given for crops and trees including coconut, mango, tamarind and various fruit trees. “Similarly, various other rehabilitation measures would also be implemented for the people, who give lands for the project including new houses under government scheme, free house site 'pattas' and self-employment opportunities,” the collector said.

However, farmers walked out of the meeting to register their opposition against the green corridor project. They declared that they would not give their lands for the project.