The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that GAIL has been authorized by the Ministry to lay Kochi-Kanjirkkod-Bangalore-Mangalore pipeline for transportation of natural gas from Kochi LNG terminal to various industries in the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The project is being executed in two phases. Phase-I of the project covering various industries in and around Kochi city has been completed and phase-II covering seven districts of Kerala is being executed by GAIL.

For laying the gas pipeline, Right of Use (RoU) has been acquired by GAIL in accordance with the provisions of Petroleum & Minerals Pipeline Act (P&MP) Act, 1962. As per the provisions of the Act, the ownership of land remains with the land owner and subsequent to completion of laying of pipeline, land is restored back to its original condition and handed to the respective land owner. Further, compensation is paid to the respective land owner by the entity authorized for laying of pipeline on account of following:

(i)                  land compensation @ 10% of prevalent market value of land for using the land for  laying    pipeline.

(ii)         Crop compensation for the crops damaged during construction (actual/presumptive)

(iii)   Compensation for trees felled for construction works

(iv)       Compensation for miscellaneous/incidental damages 

 MJPS/Rk