The District Level Rehabilitation and Resettlement Committee has approved the list of beneficiaries of the rehabilitation package for traders and families to be displaced between Paravoor and Kottankulangara (reach-2) due to national highway (NH) development in Alappuzha.
As per the list, 1,167 traders who will have to vacate their rented buildings and 154 families who are set to lose both their land and house in entirety for the widening of NH 66 will get compensation under the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RR) package.
The shops and houses to be demolished for the road-widening are in Punnapra, Ambalappuzha North, Ambalapuzha, Purakkad and Paravoor villages in Ambalappuzha taluk, and Karuvatta, Chingoli, Kumarapuram, Keerikkad, Pathiyoor, Cheppad, Karthikappally, Pallippad and Haripad villages in Karthikappally taluk.
The NH widening in the district will be undertaken in three reaches – Thuravoor- Paravoor, Paravoor-Kayamkulam-Kottankulangara and Kottankulangara-Oachira.
The committee last month approved the list of beneficiaries between Thuravoor and Paravoor (reach-1) and Kottankulangara and Oachira (reach-3). The beneficiaries in both these reaches combined include 1,045 traders and 87 families.
Officials said that besides the normal compensation to all those affected by the project, families who lost their houses and did not possess adequate land for constructing a new house would get an additional compensation of ₹2.86 lakh each. Families having cattle sheds and petty shops would get a one-time payment of ₹25,000. The traders would get a minimum compensation of ₹50,000. The final compensation is subject to approval from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the official added.
The lists were approved by the committee headed by District Collector Renu Raj.
Officials said the eligible persons who failed to apply for additional compensation would be given one more chance. They should submit their applications at the special tahsildar office before July 30.
The 81.6-km stretch of NH 66 from Thuravoor to Oachira will be widened to 45 m. Around 106 hectares of land from approximately 8,000 people in 33 villages have been acquired for the project. Of the ₹3,180.44 crore sanctioned for acquiring land in the district, a sum of 2₹,304 crore has been disbursed so far.
The road-widening work will be carried out by three companies, for which agreements have already been signed.
