A meeting of the residents of Padur village at the Deputy Commissioner's office here on Friday to discuss land acquisition for the underground crude oil storage reserve in the village, ended without any result.
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd. (ISPRL) proposes to construct an underground rock cavern to store imported crude oil at Padur. ISPRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Presiding over the meeting, Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha said that 140 acres of land was required for the proposed storage reserve. Of this, 40 acres belonged to the Government and the rest was private land.
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Those who had Records of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTCs) in the names of their father and forefathers should get them transferred to their names immediately. If there was any problem with the RTCs, the compensation money would be deposited in the court. Only 10 houses would be affected by the project, she said.
From 2007 to 2010, the average price of land in Padur-Heroor belt was approximately Rs. 10 lakh an acre for non-agricultural land, Rs. 4 lakh an acre for dry land and Rs. 3.5 lakh for wet land. There was scope for increasing these prices by up to 30 per cent.
People demanding compensation of Rs. 10,000 a cent should submit proof to that effect.
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According to the Sub-Registrar's office, the price of the land in Padur was Rs. 3,000 a cent. If the people were to approach courts, it would be difficult for them to get maximum compensation, Ms. Hemalatha said.
The members of the Padur Santrastara Hitarakshana Samiti urged the Government to pay compensation of Rs. 25,000 a cent of land. The harassment of the people in Padur village should be stopped. The compensation given in Padur should be equal to that given to the evacuees in Visakhapatnam, where ISPRL was constructing a similar facility, they said.