Farmers received cheques of around Rs 42 crore in compensation for land acquired for the Mumbai-Vadodara express highway project.

Ahmedabad: Upwards of 28 farmers from three villages in Surat got checks of around Rs 42 crore in remuneration for land gained for the Mumbai-Vadodara express roadway project.
Surat District Collector Ayush Oak handed over the cheques to the farmers from Ninat, Nogawa and Bhuvasan villages in Bardoli taluka of the district in the presence of state BJP president CR Paatil, Surat district BJP president Sandeep Desai, former state cabinet minister Ishwar Parmar and others. Around 612 hectares of land is to be acquired from 37 villages in Surat for the expressway project for which the notification was issued in 2014.
Deputy Collector of Surat district Mitesh Patel, said, “For Mumbai-Vadodara express highway, the land acquisition work is being carried out in two phases. In the first phase, we have acquired land of 170 blocks from villages, while in the second phase it is 854 blocks.” Khedut Samanway Samithi president, Mitesh Naik, said, “Earlier the amount per bigha was Rs 3 lakh to Rs 15 lakh and now the farmers are getting around Rs 1 crore per bigha. We are hopeful that the farmers will be happy with such compensation.”
KSG president Jayesh Patel said they will help dissatisfied farmers go to court.