MRPL to settle compensation as directed

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Feb 21, 2015 :  Chairing a meeting of representatives of MRPL, KIADB, Human Rights Protection Foundation, Udupi, and others,  DK  Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim has asked Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) to settle the issue of non-payment of compensation to nine families that were evicted from their houses by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) in 1992.

DC . Ibrahim asked the KIADB, which had acquired land for MRPL, to furnish documents, before this month-end, that stated that the property it had acquired belonged to the displaced families. This is necessary to accord “displaced” status on the families. DC  Ibrahim confirmed.

Foundation trustee K. Ashok Bhat, who attended the meeting, said that of the nine originally displaced persons, only two are alive — Subraya Acharya and Thimmu, both aged about 75. They visit the KIADB office in Mangaluru daily inquiring about the payment of compensation, he said.   MRPL has through a spokesperson said the company had always been willing to settle the issue and pay compensation, but was awaiting completion of certain procedural formalities. Hopefully the matter will see a humane ending.