Compensation Stipulation Delaying Kollam-Sengottai Greenfield Highway Project

PWD Minister Mohamed Riyas highlighted that the Kollam-Sengottai Greenfield Highway Project is facing delays due to a stipulation by national highway authorities requiring compensation for land acquisition to be based on the depreciation of buildings. Addressing the assembly, Riyas stressed the seriousness of the issue, which is causing concern among local communities.

"The government is treating this issue with the utmost seriousness," Riyas said, announcing that a meeting of senior officials from the national highway authority, revenue, and public works departments, along with local MLAs, would be convened soon to address the matter.

The project, part of the Kollam-Sengottai NH-744, involves acquiring 44 hectares of land over a 9.86 km stretch in Varkala taluk. A notification for land acquisition was issued on September 29, 2022, and landowner documents were collected. Instructions were then given to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to allocate compensation funds.

The crux of the issue lies in how compensation is calculated. Under the 2018 land acquisition manual from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, depreciation must be factored into the value of structures. However, the state government had previously secured exemptions for NH-66 and NH-966, where compensation was granted without depreciation. Riyas noted that NHAI informed the state on February 19, 2024, that such concessions could not be extended to other projects, leading to the current impasse.

The PWD subsequently issued an order to follow the 2018 manual, mandating that compensation be calculated with depreciation in mind, further complicating the progress of the Kollam-Sengottai highway project.

ET