Land owners call-off agitation on NH-302

The indefinite strike called by a landowner association along some stretches of the ongoing widening of National Highway-302 in south Mizoram’s Lunglei district near the Bangladesh border has been called off on Tuesday evening, officials said. Land Owners Co-Ordination Committee on NH-302, Lungsen and Rangte village councils area in Lunglei district launched an agitation on Monday and told a Centrally owned construction company, National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and other contractors to indefinitely halt the ongoing widening of the national highway within Lungsen area over compensation, they said. The co-ordination committee chairman Thangrema also confirmed that the indefinite strike has been called-off at 4 pm on Tuesday after the NHIDCL assured to submit beneficiaries list, compensation amount and other requisites to its headquarters due to the steps taken by additional deputy commissioner of Lunglei district, who is also the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA).

He said that they will wait for the NHIDCL till May 25 and if the construction company fails to give compensation or fail to take any concrete step within the deadline they will decide their next course of action.”We have called-off the agitation at 4 pm after the NHIDCL assured us that it will immediately submit the beneficiaries list, the total compensation amount and other important requisites to its headquarters. We will wait till May 25 and we will decide the next course of action if it fails to give us compensation within the deadline,” Thangrema said. He said that the  Land Owners Co-Ordination Committee  launched an indefinite strike commencing on Monday by instructing the NHIDCL and other contractors to stop the widening of NH-302 within Lungsen area as the construction company failed to give compensation to over 30 landowners within a stipulated time.

He said that the landowners have waited for 2 years to receive compensation for their lands, some of which have already been damaged and others are yet to be affected by the ongoing widening of NH-302 between Lunglei and Tlabung town on the Indo-Bangladesh border.He said that survey of the lands was already completed in 2022 and some of lands have been already damaged in the widening of the national highway based on mutual understanding between the land owners and contractors as the owners were desirous of having good roads.The agitation was launched to mount pressure on the NHIDCL because it neglected the plights of the landowners, he said.According to Thangrema, over 70 landowners in Lungsen areas have received compensation for their damaged lands in 2021 and more than 30 others are yet to receive compensation.Officials of NHIDCL could not be contacted.