Land acquisition law under review

 The ministers in their meeting next week will decide whether a need for a separate resettlement and rehabilitation Act is necessary or if the issue should be covered by introducing a separate clause in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

 A number of infrastructure projects have been held up on account of land acquisition-related problems, government officials said.

 Delays resulted in cost and time overruns, and the segments most affected in the public sector were railways and the coal sector, they added.

 Land acquisition problems have held up completion of a total of 49 projects so far, of which 34 are railway projects and 10 are in the coal sector.

 A number of irrigation projects, dams, reservoirs, roads and power projects are also likely to benefit from the implementation of the policy which deals mainly with the amount and compensation to be paid to displaced persons.

 The matter has been under discussion for over four years now, and the policy has been ready for quite some time. However, the absence of a specific legal mechanism to implement it has rendered the policy ineffective and an Act, therefore, is a better option.