'About 385 acres to be acquired for Hili-Balurghat Rly project'

kolkata: About 385 acres of land will be acquired for the extension work of Hili-Balurghat Railway project, District Magistrate of South Dinajpur Bijin Krishna, said.

"The concerned Railway department will extend the railway track from Balurghat to Hili. As per the rules, the State government was requested to acquire the land for the project. We had sent a proposal to the State for the land acquisition on the basis of the requirement of the Railway department. Initially, the proposal was approved by the state in August. We had further requested to the state for the rectification of conditions on September 1, which was approved by the state on September 26," Krishna said.

According to him, about 385 acres of land will be acquired by South Dinajpur district administration. The land parcel will be handed over to the Railway department for the project. "We had already prepared a draft notification for the land acquisition. The final notification will be published by the Railway department from New Delhi. We had already surveyed and identified the areas which will be acquired for the project," Krishna said.He said recently the Railway officials from Malda had arrived in Balurghat to discuss the land acquisition process.

"We had handed over the draft notification to the Railway officials. The state government had directed us that land acquisition will not be conducted forcefully. We will acquire land only from the willing beneficiaries. The compensation amount will be fixed after receiving no objection from the beneficiaries. We will ensure that the entire process is conducted peacefully as per direction of the state," he said.

The Calcutta High Court recently directed the Railway department to complete the project as early as possible on the basis of a PIL filed by a local, regarding the matter. After receiving the direction, the Railway department reportedly geared up to complete the project by the end of March-2024.