Panaji : Goencho Avaaz has claimed that the land acquisition for double tracking cannot be undertaken under Railway’s Act.
The organization has alleged that state government was illegally acquiring the land for the project, in order to transport the Coal from MPT.
Goencho Avaaz claimed to have found a document, a letter written by the Minister of Railways, Government of India dated 2018 “which clearly says that for this project one cannot apply the Railway’s Act.
The association has quoted a letter which reads “It is hereby brought to your immediate notice that the land acquisition process being undertaken by your office for the above project under the Railway Act is improper and illegal as the letter enclosed specifically states the following:
- a) The land acquisition 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.
(b) Acquisition of land under the Railway Act will require Joint Measurements to be conducted involving Railway Representative, State Revenue Authorities as well as the land owners. Since any of these land owners are not readily traceable, such JMC cannot be conducted.
(c) Acquiring different stretches of land in the same project by two separate organizations under different Acts would lead to discrepancies in assessment of land compensation which will give rise to disputes,” Goecho Avaaz said referring to the Government of India’s letter.
Goencho Avaaz has asked the Deputy Collector to stop the land acquisition as he has been appointed as the land acquisition officer.
