The Orissa government is mulling to amend its Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) policy-2006 in line with the policy of the Haryana government by introducing annuity payment to agriculture land owners whose land is being acquired for various projects.
“A high-power committee has been formed by Chief Minister, Naveen Pattnaik under the chairmanship of the state Chief Secretary to look into the matter and suggest changes in the R&R policy for payment of annuity to the agriculture land owners in addition to the rehabilitation package”, said Surya Narayan Patro, state minister for Revenue and Disaster Management.
Haryana government’s policy ensures payment of Rs 21,000 per acre per annum to the land losing farmers for a period of 33 years by the private developers and this annuity is increased by Rs 750 every year, he said and added that the state government plans to come up with better policy in comparison to Haryana that would benefit the land losers the most.
Patro was speaking at a seminar on Resttlement and Rehabilitation organised by the Orissa chapter of CII here. He said, R & R is an integral part of any project and the industry should include it as a component of the project cost so that the displaced families get their due benefit.
On rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced, he said, 90 per cent affected people are successfully resettled with cases of failure being only 10 per cent. But the media reports portray as if 90 per cent cases are failures, he rued.
