Land cant be acquired for PPP township projects under land acquisition Bill, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh tells in an interview with Sreelatha Menon. Edited excerpts:
It is felt even by the industry that acquisition of land for all public private partnerships under the present version of the Land acquisition Bill ( The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011) could create more conflict and distrust. It is felt that people dont oppose when land is acquired for large PPP projects for roads. But when land is acquired even for townships along the roads like in Yamuna Expressway and now Delhi Mumbai Industrial corridor, there is bound to be unwilllingness. How have you refined the definition of PPPs which are eligible for acquisition?
Township development is not included in the definition of infrastructure under section 3(O). Hence, this Act cannot be invoked for acquiring land for township development under PPP.
The land Bill has a sliding scale for compensation for village owners of land. It gives twice the market rate when it is 50 km from the town. But in your earlier version of the Bill, all rural areas were promised four times the market rate. While the sliding mechanism is good, why has the compensation amount been reduced?
There is no change in the multiplier factor. It is actually two times the market value and with 100% solatium it becomes four times for rural areas (on sliding scale).
Shouldnt the threshold be at least more than the market rate?
Two times of the market value in urban areas and four times of market value in the rural areas (on sliding scale) is likely to be more than the market rate
As per the sliding scale, for land within 0-10 km, that is the threshold, only market rate is payable. It is 1.20 times the market rate for 10-20 kms, 1.40 times for 20-30 kms.and 2 times market rate only at 50 kms away from the city.
The multiplier of 2 (which of course, becomes 4 with Solatium) is now on a sliding scale of 0 to 2. Which means the lands closer to urban areas (0-10 kms) will not have have multiplier, where as lands farthers will get 2 multiplier. The rationale is that circle rates in respect of lands closer to urban centres are likely to be close to market value, when compared to the lands situated interior, where the Circle rates are notoriously lower than the market value. However, incase of land within the radius of 10 kms, with solatium at 100%, the land owner will get two times the market value (not same as market value).
The new version of the Bill does not provide for a grievance redressal authority. The industry feels people would still have to take to streets to get grievances resolved.
Right to Grievance Redressal Bill which is under consideration of Parliament is expected to provide institutional mechanisms for redressing the grievances, therefore, there is no necessity for every legislation to create its own grievance redressal machinery.
What kind of redressal mechanism is available in the Bill?
The LARR Bill provides for many forums for redressing the grievances. They are Rehabilitation and Resettlement Committee at Project level under Section 41, State Monitoring Committee for rehabilitation and resettlement under Section 44 and land acquisition, and resettlement authority under Section 45.