Public Notice

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A.         Project Description

Government of India (GoI) has received a sector loan for Railways from Asian Development Bank (ADB).  The loan is being utilized for implementation of projects, related to strengthening of Golden Quadrilateral and Diagonals as a part of National Rail Vikas Yojana. One of the corridors identified for modernization under the Project includes Gooty - Pullumpet broad gauge line which lies entirely in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The doubling of Gooty – Pullampet is located on three stretches namely:

Section 1:         Pullampet – Bhakrapet – (43.43 km);

Section 2:         Cuddapah – Muddanuru - (55.26 km)

Section 3:         Kondapuram – Rayalacheruvu – (52.13 km). 

This RP identifies the broad scope of this subproject and outlines the policy, procedures for acquisition of land, compensation and other assistance measures for affected persons and institutional requirements for this subproject under the loan.

B.      Subproject description and impacts

Gooty – Renigunta is a single line non-electrified section of 280 km.  This forms part of the trunk route connecting Chennai to Mumbai.  This route also serves pilgrims reaching Tirupati from Mumbai / Pune / Wadi / Hyderabad / Rayalseema and Karnataka regions. At present, out of 280 km, 128.84 is already doubled.  The remaining single line patches account for approximately 151 km.

The Project between Gooty to Renigunta is considered as the lifeline of Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh comprising of Chittoor; Cuddapah and Anantapur districts.  This section forms part of the important B.G. route connecting Mumbai – Raichur – Chennai.  The line capacity utilization during 1997 – 98 on Gooty – Renigunta section has already crossed saturation limit and now stands at above 150%.  Besides these, expected industrial activity on this section and the adjacent sections involves movement of coal for powerhouses, raw materials like coke/ cooking coal and non-cooking coal, gypsum, lignite and finished products, cement, pig iron, HR coils, etc.  The proposed traffic movement on this section is also expected for the thermal power station near Hospet.  With the development of new berths in Chennai Port, export of iron ore is expected to go up to 9 million tones by 2004-05, from 56.5 lakh tones in 1999-2000.  The proposed doubling will also enable introduction of additional Express trains on the route to meet persistent public demand. 

The Project construction will require a total of 222.62 acres of land of which 147.08 acres will comprise of private land whereas 75.54 acres comprises of government land. (See Table 1.1)

Table 1.1: Distribution of affected Private and Government Land

              Source: Census survey, 2006

Based on the census survey undertaken in January 2006, it is estimated that the land acquisition in case of private land will mainly entail impact on agricultural land affecting a total of 281 households comprising of 1188 affected persons. The section wise details of the total land loss, type of losses and the number of affected households and affected persons is detailed in the Table 1.2 below:

Table 1.2: Details of Project impacts

          Source: Census Survey, 2006

C.         Measures to minimize impact

All necessary efforts have been made in order to minimize the subproject impacts and to reduce disruption of livelihood. Land acquisition requirements have been minimized to the maximum possible extent and adequate provisions have been incorporated into the planning and design of the subproject to minimize or mitigate any unavoidable impacts.

In keeping with the above, the technical design aimed at minimization of the resettlement impact by means of best utilization of the available space by avoiding need for acquisition of structures and revenue earning properties connected to agriculture.

As a result of these efforts undertaken by the Executing Agency (EA) i.e. RVNL, the numbers of affected households and impact on assets has been reduced from 307 households to 281 households and from 202 acres to 145.58 acres of private land. It is pertinent to note that the impact on structures has been significantly reduced from 114 structures to only 1 affected structure in the entire project area.

D.         Resettlement Principles and Policy Framework

The resettlement principles adopted for this subproject recognize the Land Acquisition (LA) Act 1894,  the entitlement benefits as listed in the National Policy on R&R, (Govt of India) as notified in February 2004, Andhra Pradesh State’s legal provisions and the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Policy of Involuntary Resettlement (1995), and ADB’s Handbook on Resettlement (1998). The resettlement principles adopted for the subproject comply with the social safeguard requirements of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The RP is based on the general findings of the resettlement survey[1], field visits, and meetings with various project-affected persons in the subproject area. Taking into account the various losses, a detailed Entitlement Matrix has been developed which provides for compensation and resettlement assistance to all affected persons in the subproject area. In general terms, the people affected by the Project will be entitled to the following types of compensation and assistance – (i) Compensation for loss of land, crops/trees; (ii) Compensation for structures (residential/commercial) and other immovable assets; (iii) Assistance for loss of business/wage income; (iv) Assistance for shifting; and, (v) additional assistance to vulnerable groups namely - Female-headed households, Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), those below poverty line, elderly and disabled. A detailed Entitlement Matrix for the subproject is provided in Table 4.1 in Chapter 4.

E.         Stakeholder Participation and Disclosure of RP

Local level stakeholders were consulted in the subproject area while conducting initial social and poverty assessment. Similarly, due consideration was also given for Stakeholder consultations and community participation at different levels during RP preparation.

A summary of this Resettlement Plan (RP) will be translated into English and one of the local languages and will be made available to the affected people by the Executing Agency (EA) by means of subproject-level Disclosure workshops. Copies of summary RP will also be made available at the local panchayats, local level public offices such as revenue offices to stakeholders. The summary of the final RP will also be disclosed on the ADB Website.

F.         Implementation Arrangements & Grievance Redressal

RVNL will be the Executing Agency (EA) for the Project.  The Project Implementation Unit (PIU) with assistance of a experienced NGO/agency will have the primary responsibility of the RP preparation and implementation. The PIU would ensure monitoring any changes to subproject design which may require re-evaluation of the need for and adequacy of the RP whereas the EA will ensure resettlement budgets are delivered on time to the for timely RP implementation. All compensation and other assistances[2] will be paid to all APs prior to commencement of civil works. A detailed implementation schedule for the various activities is provided in Table 6.3 in the main text.

A Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) will be established at the district level with the primary objective of providing a mechanism to mediate conflict and disputes concerning compensation payments and cut down on lengthy litigation. The GRC will be constituted with the commencement of the process of land acquisition and will be headed by the District collector and will comprise of representatives of local NGOs; public representatives (viz., Member of Parliament, Member of Legislative Assembly, etc) from the respective district; representatives of women’s group, squatters and vulnerable families; line departments and affected persons especially women as well as representatives of the respective district administration. Minimum participation of women in GRC will be at least one third of the total members.

In addition, local level Resettlement Committees (LRC) will also be formed comprising of representatives of affected persons; local leader of the affected villages; NGO field worker, women. Vulnerable groups will be encouraged to participate in these committees.

The LRCs and the NGOs will meet at regular intervals as decided by the community, specifically for grievance redress purposes at a pre-decided date, time and place. The APs can be formally present in these meetings and discuss their queries and grievances. At the community level, the committee will have the power to resolve matters either by providing information or agreeing on follow-up action. It may also reject some grievances for not being legitimate. However, it will have to explain to the AP the reasons for not recording the grievance. Legitimate grievances, which the LRCs is unable to resolve, will be taken to the GRC, which will then take necessary action after reviewing the findings in a thorough investigation.  The LRCs will maintain a register of all queries and grievances, and the action taken.

G.         Budget

The total estimated cost for resettlement operation and management for the Project is Rs. 37,090,900 US $ 824242). The estimate includes all costs related to compensation for land and other benefits as per the entitlement benefits. The itemized budget is enumerated in Table 6.2 in the main text.

H.         Monitoring & Evaluation

The RP will have both internal and external monitoring. Internal Monitoring will be a regular activity for PMU, supported by PIU and Resettlement Officer. PIU will report on the progress of the R&R activities to RVNL HQ on a monthly basis in prescribed monitoring formats.

In addition, an independent agency/monitoring expert will be engaged by the EA in agreement with ADB to undertake biannual external monitoring of the subproject implementation.  This expert will submit its reports biannually to EA and ADB.