Amid the claims of discontent among the people of Ayodhya over the loss of property due to various Ayodha Dham development work, the distrcit administration on Tuesday revealed that a cumulative compensation of Rs 1,253.06 crore has been paid to the affected residents.
In a statement issued by Ayodhya’s District Magistrate Nitish Kumar, it has been said that the beautification and widening of various major roads had been done by coordinating with the shopkeepers, building owners and landowners from both sides of the road.
It added that the affected people have been rehabilitated as per rules and regulations and have been provided with ex-gratia amount (‘anugraha dhanrashi’) and compensation.
4,616 shopkeepers affected
Giving details about the compensation, the DM added that 4,616 shopkeepers were affected due to the beautification and widening of Rampath, Bhaktipath, Ram Janmabhoomi Path and Panchkosi and Chaudahkosi Parikrama Marg.
Out of these 4616, 4,215 shopkeepers whose shops “were partially affected due to the widening were paid ex-gratia amount per shopkeeper (based on the size of the partially demolished shop)” as their business was affected for some period. Moreover, extensive beautification of their shops was also done by the administration. All these 4,215 shopkeepers are currently at their old place and their business has increased manifold and is running smoothly, the statement said.
Rest of 401 shopkeepers lost their shops completely. Out of these, 339 shopkeepers have been allotted shops by the authority. Additionally, an ex-gratia amount ranging from Rs 1 lakh to 10 lakh per shopkeeper (depending on the size of the removed shop) has also been provided to them considering their business been affected for some time due to shifting to another place. Remaining 79 families, have been completely relocated and resettled.
Claims around compensation
Notably, the statement came after a section of people claimed that development and beautification took sacrifice of properties of local shopkeepers and traders without compensation which in turn, became one of the reason of the loss of two-time BJP candidate Lallu Singh at the hands of Samajwadi Party’s Awadhesh Prasad.
Lallu Singh lost to Awadhesh Singh by a margin of 54,567 votes.
Samajwadi Party’s district chief Parasnath Yadav had claimed that houses were demolished to widen roads. “People in the land of Lord Ram said that injustice is being done to them, and they were being uprooted from their places,” he had said.
1,845 land/building owners affected
However, a total of 1,845 land owners/building owners were affected by the beautification and widening of roads, who have been compensated with an amount of Rs 300.67 crore as per rules, the district administration said.
Similarly, all the affected families in the construction of the Maharishi Valmiki International Airport have also been rehabilitated as per rules. According to DM’s statement the work of land acquisition was done by coordinating with the affected landholders and with their consent. A total payment of Rs 952.39 crore was made in the accounts of landowners/building owners, the statement added.
(With PTI inputs)
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