Mankapur-Tikri railway: Acquisition proposed, objections open

The Central Government has declared its intention to acquire 0.07599 hectares in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district for the Mankapur-Tikri railway doubling project, according to the Ministry of Railways’ notification dated 2 November 2026. The notice covers land in Bandrah and Bhitaura villages of Mankapur tehsil and allows interested persons to raise objections within 30 days of publication in the Official Gazette.

Notification S.O. 5967(E), issued through North Eastern Railway’s Construction Organisation, invokes Section 20A of the Railways Act, 1989. This provision allows the Centre to announce a proposed acquisition for a special railway project. The notification is a declaration of intent, not a final acquisition declaration or a compensation award.

The ministry identifies the work as the 28.37 km Mankapur-Tikri doubling project with a Y-connection at Mankapur, involving Jhilahi-Tikri. It states that the scheduled land is required for the public purpose of executing the project.

Land proposed for acquisition in two villages

The notification’s schedule lists four plots with a combined recorded area of 0.38 hectares. The proposed acquisition covers only portions of those plots, rather than their entire area.

In Bandrah, the ministry proposes acquiring 0.008 hectares from plot 67/949, whose total area is recorded as 0.020 hectares.

In Bhitaura, the schedule lists 0.00722 hectares for acquisition from plot 614, 0.00275 hectares from plot 628 and 0.05802 hectares from plot 629. Their respective total areas are 0.271 hectares, 0.016 hectares and 0.073 hectares. The proposed acquisition in Bhitaura therefore totals 0.06799 hectares, as recorded in the notification.

The schedule describes land to be acquired with or without structures. It does not identify individual owners, state how many households may be affected or provide an inventory of buildings, crops or other assets. It also does not assign a compensation value to the scheduled land.

The ministry says land plans and other details are available for inspection by interested persons at the office of the competent authority, identified in the notice as the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Gonda. The competent authority is the official authorised to carry out the statutory acquisition functions.

Written objections and a hearing

Under Section 20D, the notification permits any person interested in the land to object to its acquisition and use for the stated railway purpose. It requires objections to be submitted in writing to the competent authority and to set out their grounds.

The authority must give an objector an opportunity to be heard, either personally or through a legal practitioner, the notice states. After hearing objections and conducting any further enquiry considered necessary, the authority may allow or disallow them by an order. The notification also reproduces Section 20D(3), which describes that order as final under the provision.

The statutory expression “person interested” is broader than a reference to a registered owner alone. The Railways (Amendment) Act, 2008, published by the Ministry of Law and Justice, includes people claiming an interest in acquisition compensation and people holding tenancy rights under relevant state laws.

The objection period is tied to Gazette publication, not expressly to the date on which the notification was signed. The Gazette issue and notification bear the date 2 November 2026, while the electronic document carries a digital signature dated 5 November 2026. The notice does not specify a calendar closing date for objections.

Separately, Section 20A(4), as inserted by the 2008 amendment, requires the competent authority to publish the substance of an acquisition-intention notification in two local newspapers, including one in a vernacular language. The Gazette notice does not identify those newspaper publications.

Acquisition and compensation are separate stages

The distinction between an intention notice and a completed acquisition follows from the statutory process set out in the Railways (Amendment) Act, 2008.

Under Section 20E, where no objection is made within the prescribed period, or objections have been disallowed, the competent authority submits a report to the Central Government. The Centre then issues a separate declaration that the land should be acquired. The provision states that publication of that declaration transfers the land to the Central Government free from encumbrances, meaning existing charges or burdens on it.

The amendment separately provides for determining compensation under Section 20F. Before determining the amount, the competent authority must publish a notice inviting claims from persons interested in the land. Section 20H provides for the Central Government to deposit the determined amount with the authority before taking possession.

These provisions distinguish objections to the proposed acquisition from the later process of identifying compensation claims and determining payment. The Gonda notification announces the former stage; it contains no compensation determination or direction to surrender possession.

The wider Mankapur-Tikri project

Live Hindustan reported, citing North Eastern Railway chief public relations officer Sumit Kumar, that the project received approval in 2025 at a cost of Rs 280.17 crore. Its report described a 15.72 km new Jhilahi-Tikri line within the wider project, alongside doubling between Mankapur and Tikri. Doubling means adding a second railway track alongside an existing single-track route.

The same report quoted Kumar as saying that a Section 20F notification was being issued for 3.19 hectares in Gonda district. That reported area must be distinguished from the smaller area listed in S.O. 5967(E): the November notice concerns specified plots in Bandrah and Bhitaura and invokes Section 20A, not the compensation-determination provision.

The ministry’s notification does not explain how these plots relate to other land proceedings for the wider project. Nor does it set a construction start date, completion deadline or timetable for introducing train services. For the land listed in this notice, the documented next step is the opportunity for objections and their consideration by the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Gonda.