ORR compensation disbursal to delay further

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The impasse over compensation disbursal for land owners who surrendered their land for the ambitious Outer Ring Road (ORR) project will continue inordinately. As many as 6,500 land owners have handed over their property for the Vizhinjam- Navaikulam ORR project and the move to revise the alignment of the project had come as a heavy blow for them. According to official sources, efforts are under way to revise the alignment that aims to avoid heavy hill cutting to reduce the environmental impact of the project. There has been stiff protest among the land owners and a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has given assurance to the land owners that they will be given the compensation by the end of August. However, the officials are apprehensive about the deadline as finalising the revised alignments will take some time. Chandramohan Nair, convenor of the action council representing the landowners, said that a meeting will be held at the government level on Wednesday. We are hoping that the government will take a final decision on disbursal of compensation in the meeting. Thousands of families are at the receiving end, said Chandramohan. Meanwhile, an official associated with the project said that it will take some time to finalise the new alignments and the state is seriously considering taking the ring road underground to avoid hill cutting. Attingal MP Adoor Prakash told TNIE that the project will be further delayed. The alignment issue is deeply distressing for thousands of families who have been awaiting compensation after surrendering their houses and land for the project. Many of them are unable even to meet their urgent financial needs, he said. Meanwhile, the cost of land acquisition has doubled from J1,800 crore to J3,800 crore. As per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, beneficiaries are entitled to 12% annual interest on delayed payments, calculated from the date of land possession to the date of actual compensation. After August, the cost of land acquisition will escalate further.