Sanand-Kalol DFC:HC orders fresh notificationm,public hearing

Ahmedabad, 17 October 2013

The Gujarat high court (HC) today in its order asked govt to hold public hearing for proposed Sanand-Kalol stretch of Dedicated Freight Corridor(DFC) again. The court also ordered a new notification in this regard.

Acting on a PIL filed by Railway Corridor Virodh Kisan Sangh, the Court had earlier cancelled the land acquisition by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) for Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) in 26 villages of Ahmedabad and Mehsana district. This includes 16 villages of Sanand taluka of Ahmedabad and 10 villages of Kalol and Kadi taluka of Mehsana.

As per the case details, DFC was to be set up parallel to the Mumbai-Delhi railway track that passes through Sabarmati and Mehsana as part of the Centre’s Golden Quadrilateral Project. However, there was some change in the scheme and the alignment was changed from Pansar village in Mehsana. Accordingly, the authorities initiated the process of acquiring land for laying down the tracks.

This change in plan was likely to affect farmers of 26 villages in Kalol, Kadi and Sanand blocks.As per the original plan, only a few farmers were to lose their land. But with the new change in alignment, a large number of farmers could be losing their cultivable and fertile lands.

In August 2012, after the PIL was admitted, the High Court had stayed the process of acquisition of land and laying railway tracks between Sabarmati and Pansar village for the purpose of DFC.