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36 Villages in Bihar Demand Revised Compensation for NH-77 Highway

Reported by

Alok

Legal Review by

Edited by

Updated by

Published on

September 5, 2016

May 17, 2022

Edited on

September 5, 2016

State

Bihar

Sector

Infrastructure

People Affected by Conflict

2000

Households Affected by Conflict

Land Area Affected (in Hectares)

50

ha

Starting Year

2011

Location of Conflict

Sakri, Madhol, Kafen, Balia, Vishunpur and Turki villages

Muzaffarpur

Reason or Cause of Conflict

Roads

Land Conflict Summary

Residents of 36 villages, whose land was earmarked by the state government for four laning of the PatnaHajipurMuzaffarpur section of National Highway77, have refused to sell their land at the offered rate of compensation, demanding a better package. In 2011, farmers belonging to Sakri, Madhol, Kafen, Balia, Vishunpur and Turki villages, adjacent to NH77, agitated to receive compensation at the rate for commercial land under the banner of Kisan Sangharsh Morcha, temporarily halting the construction work at the site.
In 2016, there was a row over 123 hectares of land for the land acquisition process. Residents of the affected villages claim that officials and middlemen misled them about the category of land. According to them, even though their land was procured under the agricultural category, they calculated compensation for the land according to the residential and commercial category, which is notably higher than the amount paid for agricultural land. Tirhut Divisional Commissioner Atul Prasad constituted a sixmember committee to resolve the issue. Muzaffarpur Land Procurement Officer A.K. Thakur remarked that the compensation would be decided once the committee submits its report. In 2018, in an attempt to speed up the project, State Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav held a meeting with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials and landholders from the 36 villages. He placed before them a new proposal for compensation which would pay two and a half times the amount of Minimum Value Register (MVR) for 26 villages and four times the MVR for the remaining 10, along with interest. However, neither the landholders nor the NHAI fully agreed to the proposal, with the latter refusing to approve the funds until a statelevel committee on objections was constituted by the principal secretary, Department of Road Construction.
A news report in 2019 noted that after negotiations between the farmers and Yadav, the compensation amount was fixed along with interest rates of nine per cent, 15 per cent and 20 per cent and was to be notified as such. However, the residents of Madhubani village were irked by this as they had not agreed to the compensation amount at the meeting with NHAI officials. In 2021, noting the inordinate delays in land acquisition for major road projects in Bihar, the Patna high court ordered that all the national highways in the state should be monitored to ensure they have passed all necessary orders. The NHAI, meanwhile, sanctioned ₹11,327.45 crore as payment for land acquisition for various road projects in Bihar.

Fact Sheet

Demand/Contention of the Affected Community

Demand for more compensation than promised

Complaint against procedural violations

Other Demand/Contention of the Affected Community

Region Classification

Rural

Type of Land

Private

Type of Common Land

What was the action taken by the police?

How many people did the police detain or arrest?

What is the current status of the detained/accused persons?

Did the person face any violence while in police custody?

Did the person face any violence while in police custody?

If any arrests took place, were the accused persons produced before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest?

If the accused was not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, or not produced at all, what were the reasons?

Legislation under which the accused was charged

Was the accused person informed of their right to legal representation? Did the accused person have access to legal aid?

In cases where the accused person approached the court for bail, was bail granted?

Why was bail granted or rejected? If granted, what were the bail conditions and quantum of bail?

Were there any other notable irregularities that took place, or other significant details?

Details of sources (names of accused, names and numbers of any lawyers, names of any police officers contacted)

Status of Project

Original Project Deadline

Whether the Project has been Delayed

Significance of Land to Land Owners/Users

Whether the project was stalled due to land conflict

Source/Reference

Total investment involved (in Crores):

672

Type of investment:

Revised Investment

Year of Estimation

Page Number In Investment Document:

Has the Conflict Ended?

When did it end?

Why did the conflict end?

Legal Data

Categories of Legislations Involved in the Conflict

Land Acquisition Laws

Legislations/Policies Involved

Land Acquisition Act, 1894
Section 4 [Whenever land is likely required for a public purpose, a notification to that effect shall be published in in the Official Gazette]; Section 11 [The collector shall make an award of the compensation and its apportionment among all the persons know or believed to be interested in the land]; Section 30 [Any disputes pertaining to apportionment of compensation shall be referred to the decision of the Court]; Section 34 [In case the compensation has not been paid before taking possession of the land, the Collector shall pay interest from the time of taking possession until the compensation has been paid]
Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996
Section 4(i) [The Gram Sabha shall be consulted before acquisition of land for development projects and rehabilitating persons affected by such projects in Scheduled Areas] 
Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013
Section 24(2) [Where any acquisition proceedings have been initiated under the 1894 Act five years prior to the commencement of the new Act, but physical possession of the property has not been taken, the appropriate Government, if it so chooses, may initiate the acquisition process afresh]; Section 28 [While deciding the amount of compensation due, the Collector shall taken into consideration all the market value of the land, the damage suffered by the affected families and other grounds which are in the interest and to the benefit of the affected families]; Section 31 [The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Award shall contain the particulars of the house site and the land allotted to the displaced families]; Section 32 [The Collector shall ensure the provision of all infrastructural facilities and basic amenities in the resettlement area; Section 80 [In case the compensation has not been paid before taking possession of the land, the Collector shall pay interest from the time of taking possession until the compensation has been paid]
Government of Andhra Pradesh Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy, 2005
Clause 6.18(b) [The resettlement center shall be provided with basic amenities and infrastructure facilities and any other community facilities that were available in the village at the time of acquisition]
  1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  2. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  3. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  4. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  5. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  6. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  7. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Whether claims/objections were made as per procedure in the relevant statute

What was the claim(s)/objection(s) raised by the community?

What was the Decision of the Concerned Government Department?

Legal Processes and Loopholes Enabling the Conflict:

No items found.

Legal Status:

In Court

Status of Case In Court

Pending

Whether any adjudicatory body was approached

Name of the adjudicatory body

Name(s) of the Court(s)

High Court of Bihar at Patna

Case Number

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.8900 of 2020, Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.10640 of 2013

Main Reasoning/Decision of court

Major Human Rights Violations Related to the Conflict:

No items found.

Whether criminal law was used against protestors:

Reported Details of the Violation:

Date of Violation

Location of Violation

Additional Information

Nature of Protest

Complaints/petitions/letters/memorandums to officials

Development of a network or collective

Refusal of compensation

Government Departments Involved in the Conflict:

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)

PSUs Involved in the Conflict:

Did LCW Approach Government Authorities for Comments?

Name, Designation and Comment of the Government Authorities Approached

Corporate Parties Involved in the Conflict:

Did LCW Approach Corporate Parties for Comments?

Communities/Local Organisations in the Conflict:

Information on the use of criminal law

What was the action taken by the police?

How many people did the police detain or arrest?

What is the current status of the detained/accused persons?

Did the person face any violence while in police custody?

If any arrests took place, were the accused persons produced before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest?

If the accused was not produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, or not produced at all, what were the reasons?

Legislation under which the accused was charged

Was the accused person informed of their right to legal representation? Did the accused person have access to legal aid?

In cases where the accused person approached the court for bail, was bail granted?

Why was bail granted or rejected? If granted, what were the bail conditions and quantum of bail?

Were there any other notable irregularities that took place, or other significant details?

Resources

Resources Related to Conflict

  • News Articles Related to the Conflict:
  • Documents Related to the Conflict:
  • Links Related to the Conflict:

Images

Image Credit:  

Image Credit:  

Video

Residents of 36 villages, whose land was earmarked by the state government for four laning of the PatnaHajipurMuzaffarpur section of National Highway77, have refused to sell their land at the offered rate of compensation, demanding a better package. In 2011, farmers belonging to Sakri, Madhol, Kafen, Balia, Vishunpur and Turki villages, adjacent to NH77, agitated to receive compensation at the rate for commercial land under the banner of Kisan Sangharsh Morcha, temporarily halting the construction work at the site.
In 2016, there was a row over 123 hectares of land for the land acquisition process. Residents of the affected villages claim that officials and middlemen misled them about the category of land. According to them, even though their land was procured under the agricultural category, they calculated compensation for the land according to the residential and commercial category, which is notably higher than the amount paid for agricultural land. Tirhut Divisional Commissioner Atul Prasad constituted a sixmember committee to resolve the issue. Muzaffarpur Land Procurement Officer A.K. Thakur remarked that the compensation would be decided once the committee submits its report. In 2018, in an attempt to speed up the project, State Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav held a meeting with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials and landholders from the 36 villages. He placed before them a new proposal for compensation which would pay two and a half times the amount of Minimum Value Register (MVR) for 26 villages and four times the MVR for the remaining 10, along with interest. However, neither the landholders nor the NHAI fully agreed to the proposal, with the latter refusing to approve the funds until a statelevel committee on objections was constituted by the principal secretary, Department of Road Construction.
A news report in 2019 noted that after negotiations between the farmers and Yadav, the compensation amount was fixed along with interest rates of nine per cent, 15 per cent and 20 per cent and was to be notified as such. However, the residents of Madhubani village were irked by this as they had not agreed to the compensation amount at the meeting with NHAI officials. In 2021, noting the inordinate delays in land acquisition for major road projects in Bihar, the Patna high court ordered that all the national highways in the state should be monitored to ensure they have passed all necessary orders. The NHAI, meanwhile, sanctioned ₹11,327.45 crore as payment for land acquisition for various road projects in Bihar.

Demand/Contention of the Affected Community

Demand for more compensation than promised

Complaint against procedural violations

Other Demand/Contention of the Affected Community

Region Classification

Rural

Type of Land

Private

Type of Common Land

Total investment involved (in Crores):

672

Type of investment:

Revised Investment

Year of Estimation

Page Number In Investment Document:

Has the Conflict Ended?

When did it end?

Why did the conflict end?

Categories of Legislations Involved in the Conflict

Land Acquisition Laws

Legislations/Policies Involved

Land Acquisition Act, 1894
Section 4 [Whenever land is likely required for a public purpose, a notification to that effect shall be published in in the Official Gazette]; Section 11 [The collector shall make an award of the compensation and its apportionment among all the persons know or believed to be interested in the land]; Section 30 [Any disputes pertaining to apportionment of compensation shall be referred to the decision of the Court]; Section 34 [In case the compensation has not been paid before taking possession of the land, the Collector shall pay interest from the time of taking possession until the compensation has been paid]
Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996
Section 4(i) [The Gram Sabha shall be consulted before acquisition of land for development projects and rehabilitating persons affected by such projects in Scheduled Areas] 
Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013
Section 24(2) [Where any acquisition proceedings have been initiated under the 1894 Act five years prior to the commencement of the new Act, but physical possession of the property has not been taken, the appropriate Government, if it so chooses, may initiate the acquisition process afresh]; Section 28 [While deciding the amount of compensation due, the Collector shall taken into consideration all the market value of the land, the damage suffered by the affected families and other grounds which are in the interest and to the benefit of the affected families]; Section 31 [The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Award shall contain the particulars of the house site and the land allotted to the displaced families]; Section 32 [The Collector shall ensure the provision of all infrastructural facilities and basic amenities in the resettlement area; Section 80 [In case the compensation has not been paid before taking possession of the land, the Collector shall pay interest from the time of taking possession until the compensation has been paid]
Government of Andhra Pradesh Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy, 2005
Clause 6.18(b) [The resettlement center shall be provided with basic amenities and infrastructure facilities and any other community facilities that were available in the village at the time of acquisition]
  1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  2. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  3. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  4. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  5. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  6. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

  7. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. Duis cursus, mi quis viverra ornare, eros dolor interdum nulla, ut commodo diam libero vitae erat. Aenean faucibus nibh et justo cursus id rutrum lorem imperdiet. Nunc ut sem vitae risus tristique posuere.

Whether claims/objections were made as per procedure in the relevant statute

What was the claim(s)/objection(s) raised by the community?

What was the Decision of the Concerned Government Department?

Legal Processes and Loopholes Enabling the Conflict:

No items found.

Legal Status:

In Court

Status of Case In Court

Pending

Whether any adjudicatory body was approached

Name of the adjudicatory body

Name(s) of the Court(s)

High Court of Bihar at Patna

Case Number

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.8900 of 2020, Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.10640 of 2013

Main Reasoning/Decision of court

Major Human Rights Violations Related to the Conflict:

No items found.

Whether criminal law was used against protestors:

Reported Details of the Violation:

Date of Violation

Location of Violation

Nature of Protest

Complaints/petitions/letters/memorandums to officials

Development of a network or collective

Refusal of compensation

Government Departments Involved in the Conflict:

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)

PSUs Involved in the Conflict:

Did LCW Approach Government Authorities for Comments?

Name, Designation and Comment of the Government Authorities Approached

Corporate Parties Involved in the Conflict:

Did LCW Approach Corporate Parties for Comments?

Communities/Local Organisations in the Conflict:

Resources Related to Conflict

  • News Articles Related to the Conflict:
  • Documents Related to the Conflict:
  • Links Related to the Conflict:

Image Credit:  

Image Credit:  

Documented By

Text Link

Reviewed By

Text Link

Updated By

Text Link

Edited By

Text LinkLand Conflict Watch

Other Land Conflicts in Bihar

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