Balangir: The Centre has returned the revised cost estimate file of the proposed bypass road sent to it by the department of national highways of Balangir.
The Union ministry of road transport and national highways reportedly returned the file, objecting to the bench mark value for compensation for the acquired land as highly inflated and done with ill intention.
With this, uncertainty looms over the future of the bypass road which, though an absolute necessity for residents, has now become a profitable business venture for some officials and land mafia.
The revised cost estimate for the bypass roads in Balangir and Berhampur in the state had been sent to the Centre at the same time. While the valuation of acquired land for Berhampur bypass is Rs 96 lakh per hectare, the same is as high as Rs 3 crore per hectare for the Balangir bypass in the revised cost estimate proposal.
The Balangir Action Committee, which has been fighting for the road for quite sometime, alleged that officials of concerned departments were hands in glove with land mafia. Committee convener Gopaljee Panigrahi on Tuesday <>said: "The land valuation of Berhampur stood at Rs 96 lakh per hectare. Then why the same is Rs 3 crore for the Balangir bypass?"
Panigrahi said it had deliberately been done to benefit some officials and land mafia. "Some tehsil officials and those in the sub-registrar offices are in connivance with the land mafia. It has been done with ill intention and to benefit the officials and land mafia. It is strange that some land has been evaluated at Rs 60 lakh per hectare, while the valuation of its adjoining land is Rs 3 crore per hectare," he said.
He also said the culprits must the brought to book and punished.
Balangir Citizen Committee president Bhawani Shankar Satapathy demanded a high-level inquiry into the matter and suggested a fresh survey into the route of the project excluding the land patches which had been rated high.
Delay in land acquisition and forest clearances has stalled the progress of the much awaited bypass road in Balangir.
