THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has re-iterated that there was no going back on the GAIL pipeline project and it planned to provide attractive incentives to land owners who give their land within the stipulated time for land acquisition. This was made clear by Chief Secretary S.M. Vijayanand during a video conference on Saturday in which top officials of the state government, seven district collectors and GAIL officials took part.
Mr Vijayanand told DC that the project work would be restarted immediately. "Land acquisition process is almost over in most districts," he said. "Only right of use issues pertaining to Malappuram district and some parts of Kozhikode are remaining." Mr Vijayananand said the government has decided to give fair compensation to the people and also the provision to use the land for construction purpose.
"The government wants the land value to be attractive," he said and added that efforts would be initiated to clear the genuine misapprehensions of people regarding safety in some areas. He said the GAIL officials would hold a review meeting within two weeks.
The chief secretary said the GAIL project was a priority for the government. While the land acquisition process was almost complete in Ernakulam, Thrissur and Palakkad, it needs to be expedited in some part of Kannur and Kasargod. The chief secretary directed the collectors of Kozhikode and Malappuram to expedite the process. The respective collectors have assured that the remaining land acquisition in these areas would be completed in a month.
Apart from chief secretary, principal secretaries of local self government, industries, revenue, managing director of Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation and collectors of seven districts attended the video conference. While GAIL executive director M V Iyer joined from Delhi, local GAIL officials joined the team in Thiruvananthapauram.
