The long-standing dispute over land compensation for the East-West Electrical Railway project in Chandrapur has been resolved after the protesting landowners were given compensation. The dispute had disrupted construction of the national pride project for the past five months

The Department of Railways has issued payment for the land acquired to construct the railway track in Betauna of Chandrapur Municipality, Rautahat. A representative of the department on Tuesday handed over a cheque of the compensation amount to the farmers.

“Fifteen farmers received the compensation amount on Tuesday. We will provide compensation to the others soon,” said Amit Rijal, the project manager of the construction company. “The long-standing issue has been resolved now. We will resume construction work soon.”

The project authorities had decided to acquire around 30 bighas of land belonging to 26 people in Betuna for the railway project. The landowners had formed a struggle committee and had been protesting for the past five months, demanding the re-evaluation of the compensation amount fixed by the compensation determination committee, stating that the amount was too little. The project work had come to a halt due to the protest.

The committee had fixed Rs1.1 million per kattha for land with road access and Rs800,000 per kattha for land with no road access. The compensation amount for land having irrigation facilities had been fixed at Rs500,000 per kattha while the compensation for land without irrigation had been fixed at Rs400,000 per kattha. The owners of land without irrigation facilities had been protesting, claiming that their lands are connected with the irrigation channel but the authority has maintained a faulty record.

The district administration office and the locals had agreed to correct the mistakes in the documentation one and a half months ago. Accordingly, the protesting landowners are now eligible to receive Rs 500,000 per kattha for their land.

In the last week of April, the contractor had prepared to resume work on the railway project after the government had relaxed the lockdown and declared that construction crew could go back to work on mega projects by maintaining physical distancing.

Following the government decision, the contractor had initiated work after obtaining permission from the District Administration Office. But as soon as the construction work had begun, it came to a halt, as the landowners came out to protest, demanding for the compensation amount to be paid first.

According to the project contract, Lumbini, Apex and Thani JV Construction should have completed the project, which began in August 2019, by January 2022. However, the work has been disrupted for more than five months, delaying the project.

The 945-km East-West Electric Railway, also called the Mechi-Mahakali Electric Railway, is one of the government’s national pride projects.