States demand radical changes in the land acquisition law
The land acquisition laws proposed just six months back by the UPA government are blamed for stalling billions of dollars’ worth of roads, railways, ports and power installations. States are eager to kick-start major infrastructure projects have proposed radical changes to the bill to the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari.
Several states want to do away with obtaining landowners’ consent altogether in some cases and to cut through red tape which they say holds up development. Restrictions to buying land, strengthened under the last Congress government, are among the biggest barriers to projects. Most of the roadways projects started by the previous government are stalled as the necessary land acquisitions were not done before allotting the projects to the developers.
A proposed high-speed rail network championed by incoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also stuck due to this bureaucracy. Gadkari mentioned that the government has to find an equilibrium. The ministries have to keep in mind the interests of the land owners as well as the developers of these infrastructure projects. The ministry has discussed the land acquisition law with the states and Gadkari has taken the suggestions to the prime minister.
The demand for land in densely populated India has led to increasing tension between investment needed to create jobs for the one million people who enter the workforce each month and the interests of the farmers and tribal communities.
Source- The Economic Times
