Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Sunday admitted that no compensation was enough for loss of land, but said Railways was providing employment to one member of each family affected by a railway project so that “their life goes on”.
“Land is life. Just as no compensation is enough for the loss of life, likewise, there cannot be enough compensation for loss of land,” he said laying the foundation for the 19.5 km-long Furfura-Dankuni railway line project.
Loss of land cannot be compensated with employment. “But life has to go on. That is why our leader Mamata Banerjee during her tenure as Railway Minister had taken up a model for the entire country that one member of the land loser families would be given employment,” he said.
Appointment letters were handed over during the day to 18 landowners of Dankuni who gave their land for the Railway project, he said.
Dankuni Furfura Sharif, home to a Muslim shrine in Hooghly district, is not far from Singur from where Banerjee began her campaign against land acquisition.
Trivedi said Banerjee had allocated funds for the project during her tenure as Railway Minister. “Our leader has asked me to tell you that the survey work will be done in three months. We will try to complete the project in 18 months,” he said.