The Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has reiterated its offer to acquire land for completing the Thykoodam-Thevara Bund Road by giving alternative land at its disposal within the Corporation limits to landowners willing to surrender land for the project.
Land for free
GCDA Chairman C.N. Mohanan issued a press release to this effect on Saturday after noticing flex boards that have come up claiming to offer land for free to the authority to complete the missing link of the road along Thykoodam.
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Around 65 cents remain to be acquired for widening the road between Thykoodam and Thevara, which in that case will serve as a parallel road to the heavily congested Sahodaran Ayyappan Road.
Mr. Mohanan recollected that at a meeting with landowners held a year ago, the GCDA had made it clear that it was not in any position to acquire land at 300% of the current market rate under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act.
No funds were forthcoming from the State or the Central governments despite repeated requests.
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Instead, the development agency offered them alternate land in lieu of the land acquired from them within the Corporation limits and even took some of them on a tour of the land available for the said arrangement. But the landowners with whom the GCDA had held consultations had declined to accept that arrangement then.