Kerala GAIL protest: Govt promises more compensation for protesting landowners

A high-level meeting with GAIL officials was chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Kerala GAIL protest: Govt promises more compensation for protesting landowners
Kerala GAIL protest: Govt promises more compensation for protesting landowners
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The Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) in Kerala has agreed to double the compensation amount, for those who give consent to lay the pipeline in their lands. The compensation for the gas pipeline project will be decided after considering the market value of the land, which will be calculated as 10 times the fair value of the land.

Earlier the compensation was fixed after calculating the market value of the land as five times the fair value of the land.

The decision, taken in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, will be applicable for all the land taken over for the project since 2012. The government will finalise the list of beneficiaries and the new package would increase the quantum of compensation by Rs 116 crore, reports Deccan Chronicle.

In the meeting, officials also assured that the land used for laying pipelines would be narrowed to 2 metres for those who own less than 10 cents of land, and their houses would be protected.

In the plots with no houses built at present, the pipeline would be laid along the edge of the plot, restricting the alignment to 10 meters on one side. The land that can be utilised for building houses, will be marked in such plots, and the sketch will be provided to the land owner, reports TOI.

The meeting also proposed that the government would give an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to all those who own land less than 10 cents. The existing rules don’t allow the gas authority to lay pipes beneath the houses, and officials asked GAIL authorities to redesign the alignment, so that no houses are affected. The government has also decided to provide Rs 3,761 per cent, for those who own less than 10 cents, in addition to the compensation for lands acquired from paddy fields, reports The New Indian Express.

Industries minister AC Moideen and GAIL officials participated in the meeting.

The meeting was convened in the wake widespread protests which turned violent, against the GAIL project especially in Mukkom and other parts of Kozhikode district in Kerala.

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