The railway ministry is contemplating new policies for land acquisition, including job offers, for the displaced landowners, Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said in the Lok Sabha.
Replying to a debate on the supplementary demand for grants, Banerjee also said that her ministry was preparing alternative plans for projects so that if land was not available in a particular area, alternative sites could be used.
Banerjee also said her ministry would save Rs 1,500 crore during the current financial year from the austerity drive initiated by the UPA government.
The railway minister also feels it is better to delay a project for a few months than trying to forcibly acquire land. “What is the harm if a project takes two or four months more to start? We don’t want to force people to give up land. We don’t want to fight with people,” Banerjee said today.
