Villagers protest laying of pipeline for NFL project

Villagers protest laying of pipeline for NFL project
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 9
The much-hyped feedstock changeover project for converting the National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), Bathinda, from a fuel-based plant to a gas-based unit, hangs in balance due to protest by farmers of village Gillpatti in Bathinda.
The farmers of village Gillpatti, through which the underground pipeline (gas feeder) is to enter the NFL, are determined not to allow the laying of the pipeline beneath their agricultural lands.
Assuming it to be a simple task to get the Right of Use for laying the pipeline under the provisions of the Petroleum and Minerals Pipeline Act 1962 (P&MP Act), the authorities of the GAIL India Limited had started the project (Bawana (UP)-Nangal gas pipeline) about 18 months ago.
The project was started from the village Gillpatti but the villagers' protest made the authorities drop it midway. It was then started from Doraha in Ludhiana, from the pipeline splits for NFL-Nangal, local industry of Ludhiana and Jalandhar and NFL-Bathinda. Now, after completing 119 kms out of a total of 122 km (approximately) stretch, the work has been stalled after reaching its last leg at village Gillpatti.
Despite their best efforts, the administration and the GAIL India officials could find no alternative. The administration could neither get the right of use from the villagers nor could it distribute the compensation awarded.
Speaking to The Tribune, some villagers, whose land come under the project, said their land had come within the limits of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation so it would soon be demanded for residential and commercial purposes. “If we give our nod to lay down the pipeline under our lands, we will be debarred from raising any building over it. That means, the monetary value of not only that particular strip (100 feet wide) but of the whole chunk would never rise,” they rued.
The villagers demanded that the pipeline should be laid on the government land along the Behman canal distributary, running nearby. They proposed to change its route and divert it to villages Joganand and Kothe Amarpura. However, both the options are proving unacceptable to the administration and the GAIL as on the one hand, the Forest Department has refused to lay the pipeline along the canal distributary and on the other, the residents of village Joganand and Kothe Amarpura have warned the administration of launching a massive protest, if the pipe route was taken to their lands.
Moreover, the change of route plan at this moment would make the GAIL incur a loss of nearly Rs 20 crores as four kms of the already laid pipeline would have to be dug out. As per the details, the GAIL authorities had requested the administration to revise the collector rates manifold for getting the Right of Use over the lands but the administration, finding it an invitation to future problems in acquiring any other land in that area, turned it down.
The SDM Bathinda KPS Mahi, when contacted, said, “Efforts are on to find an amicable solution. We have now decided to have one-to-one meeting with the villagers and hope to resolve it soon as the whole project is almost complete except for this three km stretch.”
The regional representative of the GAIL India Limited, Harpal Singh said, “If the issue is resolved and work is started this month, the whole project is expected to be commissioned before the end of this year.” It was also informed that nearly 1.5 MMSCMD of gas would be supplied to the NFL daily through the pipeline.