Consensus eludes GAIL project talks

Issues regarding alignment and price of land acquired for the pipeline route remain unresolved

Kozhikode, Kerala, 06/11/2017:A.C.Moideen, Industries and Tourism minister in a relaxed mood after the discussion on Gail pipe issue with all party meeting at Kozhikode collectorate on Monday. Photo: S_RAMESH KURUP Kozhikode, Kerala, 06/11/2017:A.C.Moideen, Industries and Tourism minister in a relaxed mood after the discussion on Gail pipe issue with all party meeting at Kozhikode collectorate on Monday. Photo: S_RAMESH KURUP -

Even after three hours of discussion chaired by Industries Minister A.C. Moideen at the Kozhikode Collectorate on Monday, no consensus could be reached on the smooth execution of the GAIL pipeline project.

A meeting of elected representatives and anti-GAIL action committee leaders was called by the State government to cool local resistance at Mukkom and its vicinity. Mr. Moideen told mediapersons that the government had agreed to a set of measures to implement the State-owned natural gas project. But action committee leader C.P. Cheriya Mohammed said the two key contentious issues of changing the alignment of the pipeline and determining the price of the land acquired for the pipeline route remained unsolved.

Some of the government’s measures include starting a help desk at the panchayat level to answer the questions of landowners about the notification and safety aspect, a rehabilitation package for families who will lose their houses, and those who have purchased property less than 10 cents of land for constructing houses.

District Collector U.V. Jose was asked to work out these packages, besides fixing new prices for the paddy fields that will be used for laying the pipelines.

Claiming that the talks had been successful, Mr. Moideen said that GAIL had agreed to provide compensation of five times the amount of the fair value of land. Besides, no changes would be made in the alignment for which survey and notification had been issued several years ago.

The compensation would be offered within a week for work that had been started and within three weeks if landowners submitted documents for pending works, Mr. Moideen said.

However, Congress MPs M.I. Shanavas and M.K. Raghavan, who had taken part in the discussion, said that the talks remained inconclusive as the demands of the victims had not been met. “GAIL had taken an arbitrary stand on the alignment. The land prices should be fixed at four times the market value. This is a mass protest and the UDF supports wholeheartedly supports the movement,” they said.