Newskarnataka – Mangalore
Mangalore: A meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim on Thursday January 29, to sort the compensation issue regarding the proposed HPCL’s LPG pipeline from Mangalore to Bangalore failed to deliver results with disgruntled farmers of Mangalore taluk staging a walkout.
Earlier two meetings convened by the district administration failed to arrive at a consensus. The land owners did not budge to the district administration’s attempt to negotiate the compensation amount, rather they walked out of the meeting even before the DC proposed the compensation.
Land owners from Gurupur, Maravoor and surrounding villages firmly opposed the HPCL’s attempt to acquire land under the Petroleum and Minerals Pipeline (Acquisition of Rights of User in Land) Act. However HPCL has an added advantage of ‘the right of user in land’, to which the DC stated that the government projects like laying of pipeline for HPCL does not require the consent of land owners. He said land for the project has already been notified and it is not in the hands of the district administration to withdraw the project.
Still we are trying our level best to ensure that the errors that were committed in the previous project (Petronet pipeline) will not be repeated and maximum safety measures will be taken to avoid disasters, the DC added.
On the other hand the land owners asked the district administration either to fully acquire the land under the new Land Acquisition Act or not to acquire it at all. Land owners raised apprehensions over the safety aspect due to laying of multiple pipelines. In reply, the HPCL officer clarified that safety and risk assessment was done by NEERI and the pipeline will be laid by keeping all safety mechanisms in place.
Addressing the media persons later, the DC said that he has proposed to give a compensation of six times of the guidance value. So far, the highest compensation offered for HPCL project in the State is in Hassan which is four times of the guidance value.
Considering the population and land value, we have decided to fix a compensation of six times of guidance value in Mangalore taluk and five times of the guidance value in Belthangady taluk, he said.
