Dimapur, Feb. 19 (EMN): The Railway Landowners Union of Dimapur has expressed displeasure at what it stated was the remark of an Indian Railways official that ‘Dimapur railways’ cannot be “adequately developed owing to work hindrance from the landowners.”
The union stated in a press release on Wednesday that the railway authority has been occupying eight kilometre of land in the district for decades without land acquisition, or ‘allocation of works or any other such privileges to the landowners.’
According to the press release, Nagaland is ‘protected’ by Article 371 (A) of the constitution, in that the land and its resources belong to the people, not the state’s government or the central government.
‘Accordingly, developmental activities have been taking place only after land acquisition or payment of land compensation to the landowner(s),’ the union stated.
‘Throughout the years that followed, the central forces – be it military, paramilitary, Central Reserved Police Force, Indian Postal Services etc have been carrying out developmental activities after land acquisition or payment of land compensation. Even the recent railway line extension to Zubza (Kohima) could take off only after the clearance of necessary land compensation.’
The Rangapahar Area Railway Landowners Union of Dimapur has been ‘persistently and repeatedly claiming land compensation from the railways authority without any positive response from the latter,’ it stated.
The union stated that the general manager of Indian Railways had stated during a recent visit to Dimapur that Dimapur railways ‘could not be adequately developed owing to work hindrance from the landowners.’
The remark is ‘quite an irresponsible utterance, so unbecoming,’ the noted stated.
The union asked the authorities: “Where is the proper documentation of a land acquisition/compensation to prove the rights of railway authority? The imminent problem will remain unresolved so long as railway authority fails to address the issue in its right perspective and the rightful demands of landowners are not fulfilled.”