Jhajjar villagers allege bias over land relief calculation

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, January 30

Residents of Chhara village here are up in arms and have accused the authorities of discriminating against them. They allege that lesser compensation was calculated for their land acquired to develop national highway-334B (Meerut, UP to Loharu, Bhiwani) than the adjoining villages.

They have threatened to launch an agitation if they are not awarded compensation equal to nearby villages.

“Over 85 acres of our village have been acquired for developing the highway. The authorities have calculated compensation of Rs 40 lakh per acre for our village’s land while the compensation for the adjoining Bhapdoda and Giravar villages has been fixed Rs 1.03 crore and Rs 66 lakh per acre respectively,” said Jitender Kumar, sarpanch of Chhara village.

He maintained the market value of Chhara’s land was much higher than both the villages due to its fertility and direct connectivity to the KMP highway, Delhi-Hisar highway and Panipat-Rewari highway. Even the outreach OPD of AIIMS-II and India’s biggest National Cancer Institute (NCI) were also located near the village. Despite all these, lowest compensation had been assessed for Chhara village, he said.

Kumar said that infuriated villagers met DC Sonal Goel on Tuesday who assured them of looking into the matter.

Pramod Arya, another villager, said they had decided not to accept compensation lesser than Bhapdoda and Giravar villages. “We will not let the authorities take possession of the land until our demand is met,” he said.

Saheb Singh Dalal, president of Naugama (a body of nine villages dominated by people belonging to Dalal gotra), said that a panchayat was convened in Chhara village on Monday to discuss the issue and to decide the further course of action.

“The panchayat unanimously resolved to meet Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari for justice. We will launch an agitation if we don’t get equal relief,” he added.

Manbir Sangwan, District Revenue Officer (DRO), said residents of Chhara village had raised objections over the compensation assessed.

“On inquiry, discrepancies have been found in calculating the compensation. Hence, a process has been initiated with immediate effect to revise the land award and it will be announced soon,” he added.