Rs. 12 crores made over to landowners as Govt acquires land for 23 km Ranipool-Burtuk byepass

SUBHASH RAI
GANGTOK, 03 Feb: The East District Administration, over the past couple of days, has paid out Rs. 12.44 crores in compensation for land acquired for the construction of a two-lane Bye Pass road project from the National Highway near Ranipool to Burtuk, above Gangtok. Work on the project is expected start in the earnest shortly and even as many would be worried with the sheer scale of road projects underway in the State, the enormous traffic snarls which have become the norm for Gangtok roads nowadays, will definitely ease with this byepass.
The District Administrative Centre, East, assigned with the acquisition of land for the aforesaid project by the Sikkim Public Works Department [Roads & Bridges], is almost finished with the first phase of releasing compensation to affected landowners.
Speaking to NOW!, District Collectorate [East], D. Anandan, confirmed that out of Rs. 15,55,85,823, calculated as the total compensation to be paid out for the land acquisition, a total of Rs. 12,44,68,685, roughly 80% of the total, has been disbursed.
The landowners also confirmed that the District Administration started disbursing the compensation on 31 January through State Bank of Sikkim cheques.
The DC adds, “The remaining 20% will be disbursed within two-three months time.”
A total of 310 landowners in the area have been affected by this acquisition process which will be acquiring a total of 27.3023 hectares of land for the project. Official sources confirm that 310 cheques have been prepared, or which 200 have already been collected by the respective land owners.
Official documents related to the project do not mention compensation rates for those whose houses will need to be evacuated to make way for the road, the present round of compensation being only of lands without any built up property. Some of the landowners, whose houses fall under the project informed NOW! that a fresh estimate was being prepared to factor in what they need to be paid for losing their houses to the proposed byepass. This is expected to be completed in a couple of months time.
Land for the project has been acquired at three different rates - Rs. 35.73, Rs. 55 and 58.75 per square feet.
Clarifying doubts expressed by some landowners over how these different rates have been worked out for the same project, the DC explained, “Marchak block, which is the starting point for the bye-pass, because it is already aligned to the national highway at Ranipool fetched a higher evaluation at Rs. 55 per sq. ft. and were thus offered this rate.”
According to available government documents, 0.9020 hectares has been acquired here for Rs. 73,41,509.
Similarly, landowners at Penlong block, where the byepass will link up to the North Sikkim Highway, because of this existing proximity to the highway and being near Gangtok, received Rs. 58.75 sq.ft. Here, a total of 1.2786 hectares has been acquired for Rs. 1,11,99,976.
“The rest - Ranka, Barbing, Luing, Sangtong, Lingdum, Rawtey-Rumtek, Sajong and other blocks were given Rs. 35.73 per sq. ft., which is equivalent to the compensation awarded to landowners here for the Khel Gaon project at Resithang, Ranka, and Tourism Village in Barbing ward,” Mr. Anandan detailed.
The government documents available with NOW! reveal that the residents of Barbing block who contributed 4.5680 hectares of lands have received the highest total compensation of Rs. 3,28,70,775.
The Road & Bridges Department, in its ‘Invitations for Bids’ issued under National Competitive Bidding in December 2009, had estimated the value of the work at Rs. 99,16,39,000 for the 23.14 km long new byepass.
The tender notice also mentioned that the project was an SARDP-NE, Phase-A project with a completion time set at 36 months.