Pics: Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Dec 23: Dakshina Kannada district deputy commissioner (DC), Sasikanth Senthil, said that the district administration will lay special emphasis on ensuring that the people who lose their lands for the pipeline being laid by Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) will get actual market price for their lands.

The gas pipeline is being laid between Kochi and the city via Kuttanad. It will cover 35 km in the district.The DC was addressing a meeting held at the town hall here on Friday December 22 in which land owners who would be losing their land for the pipeline project participated. The pipeline will move through Malavoor, Adyapady, Kandavara, Muloor, Addur, Mallur, Arkula, Pavoor, Kenjar, Thokur, Meramajalu,Kairangala, Balepuni, Kurnadu and some other villages. GAIL is one of the best performing companies owned by the government of India, and has been accorded recognition as a 'Navaratna' company.

Senthil said that he has noticed the fact that as per the government rules, the compensation that can be given to the farmers is very less in this part as compared to other areas. "We have no powers to transgress laws. Still, we will hold discussions with GAIL officials and the government and put in honest efforts towards providing justifiable compensation to farmers," he promised.

The DC added that he is committed to hold discussions with individual families who will be affected by the pipeline project, and assured that no building located on the path of the pipeline would be demolished. He said that at the insistence of some farmers, certain changes have been made in the route of the pipeline.