The stretch of National Highway 83 towards Dobhi. Picture by Suman

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is expected to start redeveloping the Patna-Gaya-Dobhi National Highway-83 into a four- lane road by December even as 500 petitions for revised compensation are pending with the district land acquisition department.

The NHAI will start construction of the 127-km four-lane road from Patna to Dobhi via Gaya at an estimated cost of around Rs 2,000 crore. The project is a joint venture of the Union government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Of the total outlay, Rs 1,200 crore will be spent on road construction, while Rs 800 crore will be spent on land acquisition. JICA will make available 80 per cent of the amount to be spent in road construction, while the Union government will provide the remaining 20 per cent. The entire amount for land acquisition will also be provided by the Union government, NHAI sources said.

Gaya district land acquisition officer Prabhat Kumar Jha told The Telegraph that compensation of around Rs 10 crore has been disbursed for acquisition of 39.3 hectares in four villages — Parsawan (22.143 hectares), Neyazipur (3.925 hectares), Aradih (8.341 hectares) and Shekhwara (4.891 hectares) — all under Gaya town block.

The sources added that work on the four-lane project is likely to start by December this year. While the existing width of NH-83 is around 50ft, it will be taken to around 200ft.

NHAI will float a tender for the project in September and it is likely to complete in around two-and-a-half years, by June 2015. Once the project is complete, the journey time between Dobhi and Patna will be cut down by at least two hours. Now, it takes at least four hours to cover the 127km national highway. After the four-laning project, travel time would come down to around one-and-a-half hours.

For smooth travel, the NHAI plans to construct nine bypass roads and three railway overbridges.

However, landowners in Belaganj block had protested against the construction of a bypass road in the area. Villagers at Beladih in the block filed a case in Patna High Court in August last year. They demanded that the four-lane road crossed through the existing Belaganj bazaar (through which NH-83 passes) so that they could get compensation against their plots, as the value of the adjoining land would increase.

However, on April 10 this year, the court dismissed the case on the ground that some of the constructions in Belaganj bazaar was on encroached government land. Sources said the NHAI planned a bypass road, as they did not want to disturb the area around the bazaar that has several constructions.

The landowners in Dobhi, Bodhgaya, Gaya town and Belaganj blocks are also demanding compensation against acquisition of their land at the present residential or commercial rate. The government plans to provide compensation at the highest rate in the last three years.

For instance, the present rate of land at Shahdev Khap village under Bodhgaya block is around Rs 3 to Rs 3.5 lakh per cottah, against Rs 1 to Rs 1.5 lakh per cottah three years back. The rate at adjoining Bhanvarwaar village, under Dobhi block, is similar to Shahdev Khap.

The NHAI has also said that compensation would be provided to landowners according to the nature of land mentioned in the land record document (khatihan). Villagers said the document records their nature of land according to a survey in 1981. But in the past 31 years, a lot of development has taken place and the rate of land fixed by the government before acquisition should be in accordance with the development in a particular area.

Sources said while the nature of land mentioned in the khatihan has not changed, the registration fee on new registration of lands has increased manifold. Even land registration fee of several land plots mentioned as agriculture land in the khatihan has been fixed according to a residential or commercial plot, some villagers said. Jha said compensation against land acquisition is to be disbursed in 52 villages from Dobhi to Khaneta in Belaganj block.