Member of Parliament S.P. Muddahanumegowda took the land acquisition officer and the officers of the Railway department to task for delaying the Tumakuru-Rayadurga railway line project.
Speaking at the zilla panchayat meeting here on Monday, Mr. Muddahanumegowda said the lack of co-ordination between the land acquisition officer and the railway department is causing the delay.
He asked why land acquisition officer Manjunath has not handed over 171 acres of land to the Railway as promised.
Mr. Muddahanumengowda asked the Deputy Chief Engineer of Railway, Mohanan, why the department had not called tender for the 23 km railway line from Tumakuru to Koratagere. Mohanan replied that though the land has been handed over to Railway, a portion was under litigation and hence the tender could not be called.
Out of 171 acres of land acquired for the project, 20.6 acres of land is under litigation.
MLA of Madhugiri, K.N. Rajanna, said the project has been already implemented in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh and if there is delay in implementing the project in Karnataka, people may say that officers concerned of the State are not efficient.
In his response, Mr. Manjunath said that preliminary notification of 171 acres will be done within November 8.
No denotification of land
Mr. Muddahanumegowda said 142 acres of land was acquired at Urukere of Tumakuru taluk for the construction of railway junction. He asked why the railway department said it does not need that land now. He accused the department of requesting denotification of land to help real estate mafia.
He said “We are against any denotification of land.”
MLAs K.N. Rajanna and Thimmarayappa, MLC M.D. Lakshminaraya, Deputy Commissioner, K.P Mohan Raj, zilla panchayat CEO, Shantharam K.G. and others were present.
