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.

As of now, work is delayed in Maynaguri and Dhupguri blocks of the district as land is yet to be acquired. However, in most other parts of the district, work on the highway has finished or is going on in full swing.

A Trinamul leader in Maynaguri spoke on similar lines. “Before the Assembly elections, we cannot afford to go ahead and persuade people, many of whom are farmers, to give away their land,” he said. He added that one of the reasons people support Mamata Banerjee is her “strong stand against forcible acquisition of land”.

“As the project got delayed, some elected representatives and leaders of our party did approach these people to convince them (to part with land) and the administration had also taken certain initiatives. But now that a few months are left for the polls, we cannot make any move that is contrary to the policy of our party and the state government. In fact, we want the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to consider the demand for higher compensation,” the leader added.

Almost 20 years back, the NHAI had taken up the East-West Corridor project — a four-lane highway to connect Porbandar of Gujarat with Silchar of Assam. In north Bengal, the project had stumbled on many stretches, and particularly since 2011, over delay in land acquisition.

This made the Centre ask the state to facilitate land acquisition for the project while underscoring that the highway — the principal road route to northeast — was also of strategic importance. Elected representatives of Trinamul, including state tourism minister Gautam Deb, were involved to expedite the process.

However, now that Trinamul intends to change its plan, some NHAI officials are worried that this would further delay this road project.

Jalpaiguri’s BJP leaders questioned Trinamul’s motives at this point. “Trinamul deprived the residents of Bengal from infrastructure development. In Jalpaiguri, the highway project halted only for their political interest,” said Bapi Goswami, the district BJP chief.