TMC backs off from Jalpaiguri land talks for highway

Trinamul leaders in Jalpaiguri have decided to back-track from their plan of convincing people to part with their land for the largest highway project taken up by Centre in north Bengal.

The party may instead insist on higher compensation, the move admittedly dictated by electoral compulsions.

“It is true that the work to widen NH27 into a four-lane highway is pending in some stretches of Jalpaiguri district as land is yet to be obtained from people. We want the project to finish but simultaneously, we do not want to leave the land owners antagonised by asking them to part with their land against the existing compensation offered to them as the elections are ahead,” said Mitali Roy, the Trinamul MLA of Dhupguri.