Jagdish Shettar, Lok Sabha member, has asked officers to speed up work on laying the new railway line between Belagavi and Hubballi via Kittur.
“The line has been a long-standing demand of the people of this region. It is an ambitious project. It should be started as soon as possible. Revenue officers should speed up land acquisition and hand it over to railway officials to start civil works,” Mr. Shettar said. He was speaking at a meeting to review progress of all Centrally-funded schemes in Belagavi on Friday.
Land acquisition pending
Officers told him that of the total 600 acres was required for the work, the land acquisition process of 322 acres from Dharwad to Bagewadi was completed. The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board officers had reported that acquisition of 155 acres in some villages including Kuruvinakoppa near Belagavi was pending. Officers said that some farmers were opposing the land acquisition and were demanding a realignment of the railway line.
Mr. Shettar remarked that the construction of the line was a long-time dream and had to be completed on a priority basis. “A major part of the acquisition is complete and the courts have not given any direction on realignment. We should go ahead with the remaining acquisition,” he said. He said that farmers should be called to resolve pending issues.
Compensation for farmers
The MP directed Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil to see that farmers who lost land in the acquisition were given relief as soon as possible. Mr Patil said that he would provide all kinds of support to field-level officials including police security.
The project to lay 73 km of railway line is estimated to cost ₹900 crore. District Collector Nitesh Patila said on the same occasion that all kinds of assistance will be provided for the land acquisition including land security.
Tenders for road projects
The MP asked officials to start inviting tenders for road projects only after completing land acquisition process. He noted that over 500 acres of land was to be acquired in various packages of National Highway projects, but only around 40 acres was acquired till now. He set a deadline of two months to complete land acquisition for the first package. “Officers can hold discussions with farmers, but the assurances given to them should be within the legal limits,” he said. Officials of the National Highways Authority said that they will complete the land acquisition process required for the Ring Road around Belagavi at the earliest.
Mr. Shettar asked officials to initiate action against contractors who worked on the Smart City projects if they were found to have carried out low-quality works. “The onus of maintenance is on the contractors, as per rules. In case of proven complaints, fines should be levied on them,” he said. The DC said that Belagavi had won the first place in creating person days under MNREGA and the ‘one district, one product’ scheme.
SP Bheema Shankar Guled, Deputy Commissioner Rohan Jagadish, City Corporation Commissioner Ashok Dudagunti, and other officers were present.
