R&R policy may get delayed

The Centre's resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy may be further delayed as the government plans to seek states' consent for some of the provisions in the policy.

"Some land acquisition issues have to be discussed with states as this is a concurrent subject, with states having a major stake in the process," said Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, who attended a GoM meeting on the policy today.

The delay can worsen the situation arising out of land acquisition for various projects like SEZs and irrigation programmes with people protesting against forceful eviction without compensation and rehabilitation.

However, a rural development ministry official said the issue mentioned by Nath related to the Land Acquisition Act and would be taken up in detail later.

"Today, we just discussed the R&R policy clausewise, and issues like who all will be termed as project-affected," he said.

"Apart from a good compensation package, I have demanded better livelihood opportunities for those affected by the projects. This is important to protect the governments from resistance by the people," he said. He said the issue of compensation was not taken up today.

According to an official source, the meeting saw Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia calling for looking at the rehabilitation policies of other countries as well.

Some states have their own rehabilitation policies.