GREATER NOIDA: The GB Nagar district administration recently issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act for constructing six railway over bridges in Dadri and Dankaur villages. The administration had to opt for the provisions of the Act as it failed to purchase land directly from the villagers of Astauli, Maycha, Rithori, Ajayabpur, Ramgarh and Bodaki villages.
A total of 55 chunks spanning over 4.24 hectares are needed for construction of the bridges for Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor. Gautam Budh Nagar university will also carry out a social impact assessment (SIA) study and will be paid Rs 2.65 crore for the same. The university will also examine the impact of the freight corridors in Dadri and Bodaki villages.
The project is being executed at the behest of the railway ministry and may face a delay of more than six months.
Additional district magistrate (land acquisition) Balram Singh said, “Gautam Budh Nagar University has been asked to prepare the SIA study report. We have already provided them the description and plan of the entire project and the land handover process will take nine months.”
The bridges have to be constructed over the level crossings at the six locations in order to ensure uninterrupted and high-speed movement of freight services on the corridor. A multimodal logistic hub as well as freight village will be developed in Dadri, where both eastern and western freight corridors will meet.
While Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation was able to buy the land it needed to lay down tracks directly from the farmers, the land for over bridges has to be acquired by the administration. “The land for the bridge is located away from the tracks and has to be acquired by the administration. But the administration was not willing to match the price paid by the corporation and farmers opposed the move. Hence, acquisition will have to be done under the Act,” said a senior officer from the public works department, the agency roped in by the corporation to construct the bridges.
Meanwhile, the villagers said that the corporation has offered per sqm rates between Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000.