Govt releases Rs 100 crore for MIHAN


* The amount has been released as part of the Rs 200 crore package for rehabilitation of PAPs

Staff Reporter
Here is a good news for project-affected persons (PAPs) of Multimodal International Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) project. Maharashtra Government has released Rs 100 crore for rehabilitation of PAPs, as part of a package involving higher amount.
Rehabilitation of PAPs has been a contentious issue as far as MIHAN project is concerned. When the major part of land acquisition was over, an additional portion of 145.29 hectares of land had remained to be acquired. Initially, the Government had released additional aid of Rs 266 crore for rehabilitation of PAPs. Of this, Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) got Rs 189.20 crore on March 3, 2012.
Later on, a provision of Rs 302.61 crore was made for acquisition of remaining 145.29 hectares of land specially in Jaitala and Bhamti area. The provision was made on March 30, 2012. Of this amount, Rs 53.66 crore was released to MADC for the year 2011-12. For 2012-13, an amount of Rs 50 crore was released. Thus, so far, the Government released Rs 103.66 crore for acquisition of remaining portion of land.
Meanwhile, MADC had submitted a draft package for rehabilitation of PAPs. The package was proposed to be of Rs 454.53 crore. The draft of the package was submitted in a meeting of Maharashtra Relief and Rehabilitation Authority (MRRA) under Revenue and Forest Department. The draft was discussed in the meeting held on June 19, 2013. After careful scrutiny, MRRA approved the plan. Accordingly, the Government apprived budgetary allocation of Rs 200 crore for the year 2013-14. However, since announcement in the budget, not a single penny was released.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is taking keen interest in MIHAN project. During a meeting, he reportedly asked the officials concerned to expedite the process of release of the budgetary allocation. Accordingly, on Friday, General Administration Department (GAD) released Rs 100 crore for rehabilitation of PAPs. The amount was released to MADC. Deputy Director (Airport Operations) was designated as Drawing and Disbursing Officer while Director (Airport Operations) as Controlling Officer for the amount.
It may be mentioned here that acquisition of land in Jaitala and Bhamti proved to be a tricky issue to tackle for the administration. Finally, after announcement of the highest-ever compensation to PAPs, land acquisition moved ahead. Still, some of the PAPs did not agree to the land acquisition award. However, with time, unity of PAPs developed cracks. Some accepted the award and also the cheques. Rehabilitation was another issue that became complicated with passage of time. With the Government releasing additional assistance, the rehabilitation issued might get sorted out. But, it will all depend upon release of remaining amount of the budgetary allocation well before end of this financial year. 

(Published in The Hitavada CityLine on August 31, 2013)

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