Clouds over the Rs 2,250-crore, 165 km-long, six-lane access controlled Taj Expressway Project, which would connect Noida to Agra, seem to have cleared. The Taj Expressway Authority has eventually managed to persuade farmers of Tappal village in Aligarh, to part with their lands at Rs 39 lakhs per hectare.
Earlier, affected farmers of Tappal village were demanding that they be compensated as per the market rate of Rs 80 lakhs per hectare as against the administration?s offer of Rs 24 lakhs per hectare, which was the circle rate of the area. During the last fortnight, the administration was in fact, trying to convince the farmers to finalse the agreement, but was able to strike the deal late on Monday night.
Speaking to FE, district magistrate of Aligarh, Rammohan Rao confirmed the deal and said, ?We have finalised the land acquisition deal at Rs 39 lakhs per hectare. The farmers were seeking compensation at commercial rates, which are as high as Rs 80 lakh per hectare, while the standard procedure for land acquisition is by comparing land sale records of the past three years with the prevailing rates, which were quite lower than what the farmers were asking for.?
However, the farmers were unwilling to part with their agricultural land apparently at such low prices. Of the 17 villages in Aligarh, which were falling in the way of the 165 km-long expressway?s path, farmers of 16 villages had agreed to take the Rs 24 lakhs per hectare compensation that was offered by the administration. But farmers of Tappal, chiefly a Jat stronghold, had refused to budge, as the area is a highly fertile agricultural belt.
In its bid to put pressure on the farmers, the administration had also warned them that if they stuck to their demands, the villagers would lose out on whatever benefit they were being offered.