Shillong, Apr 16: Several land owners are not happy with the compensation provided to them for the construction of the two-lane Shillong Western Bypass road.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, eight land owners said, “We are unhappy over the compensation given by the government for the project”.
The 38.256 km road will connect lad Umsaw, Ri Bhoi to Lad Mawreng, East Khasi Hills with an estimated cost of around Rs 600 crore.
One of the landowners, Rogen Khyllait, pointed out that during a public hearing held two years ago, the government promised them to pay compensation of around Rs 1200 crore but on 20 February this year, the government paid them only Rs 681.62 crore .
The land owners said, “No one will get land at this price because it is the cultivable land, we don’t want to oppose this project because as citizens we also want development in our area but government does not help their own people”.
On December 8 last year, Deputy Chief Minister in-charge PWD (Roads) Prestone Tynsong had said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways through NHIDCL had cancelled the sanction to construct the road as the proposed compensation amount for land is double than the cost of the project.
The government paid compensation to around 400 land owners.
