The Hindu

Mangalore, Apr 24: Mangalore Special Economic Zone Ltd. is considering extending compensation packages to owners of about 350 houses in Kalavaru village.

The houses fall under the 1,800 acres of land that were notified as part of Phase I of the mega project.

The value of a number of residential buildings in Sankada Bali area of Kalavaru village had been fixed as "nil" after a survey by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB). The owners of these houses were not included in the compensation list because they built their houses after the land was notified for the project.

Meeting

At the end of an hour-long meeting between the house owners and officials of MSEZ Ltd. at the company’s office on Wednesday, the promoters of the project softened their stand on the issue.

The company’s delegation was led by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, I.S.N Prasad. The house owners were represented by the president of the Samyukta Hitarakshana Samiti, Bhujanga Shetty.

Speaking to presspersons after the meeting, Mr. Prasad confirmed that the list of people for the compensation package would be reconsidered.

"We do not want to enforce rigid rules while working on a sensitive issue and will take it up on a case-to-case basis," he said. The company has set itself a deadline of May 4, by which time it will arrive at a decision.

Truncated package

He also said that the company is considering a truncated package for people who do not fully qualify for receiving the compensation package.

Sources within MSEZ Ltd. said that the owners of the houses had built them in order to claim compensation and that many of them were not even living in the houses.