The stalemate over acquisition of 32 cents of land on north end of MG Road for the Kochi Metro project has finally ended on Tuesday with the district administration acquiring the property under provisions of the Land Acquisition Act.
P. Sobhana, Deputy Collector, Land Acquisition, said the acquisition process was initiated on the basis of a notice served on Seematti Textiles, the property owner, by the district administration on March 10. “The notice, sent on the basis of a requisition letter from the Kochi Metro Rail Limited, set March 18 as the deadline for handing over the space. Having taken over the land, eighty per cent of the compensation amount will soon be released on producing the requisite documents,” the official said.
The KMRL has already handed over to the district administration Rs. 14.58 crore of the total Rs 16.50 crore compensation that is payable to Seematti, which works out to 80 per cent of the total compensation. The price of land at the location is fixed at Rs.52 lakh per cent.
A decision with regard to disbursing the remaining amount will depend on the outcome of a case the property owner has filed contesting the price fixed per cent, the official added.
Acquisition of the property, where about six pillars of the metro rail project will come up, was a major bottleneck in the metro rail project with repeated discussions between the authorities and property owner failing to achieve a breakthrough. The plans for signing an MoU to take over the textile firm’s land free of cost after giving it some concessions on usage of space beneath the viaduct for advertisements was also given up following repeated attempts to alter terms and conditions.
Meanwhile, the Revenue Department is awaiting a revised requisition from the KMRL with regard to the acquisition of 55 cents owned by Malabar Gold at Edappally. “The price per land at this location is fixed at Rs. 31.60 lakh and the earlier plan was to take over 1.09 acres. The property owner has consented to hand over the land and the acquisition process will commence immediately upon receiving a requisition letter,” officials said.