TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The mood in the government is that with the new central land acquisition policy, development and industrialization in the state could suffer, with top ministers giving clear indications that government is not in sync with the new Land Acquisition Act – the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
Both Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’ Souza have expressed reservation about the same. The implementation of the investment policy and future projects will be delayed, the state government feels.
“There is no clarity. Rules have not come,” says D’ Souza, who is also the revenue minister giving an example that the act says Factor I and Factor II but does not give any details or explanations on the same.
“Act says Factor 1; Factor 2. But these are not defined,” he said. However, D’ Souza denies that the government has written to the Centre asking that the act be scrapped, but says that they want some clarity on the issue as well as want some parts to be modified.
“We have held discussions with central ministers. It is not that we want the act scrapped but just modified,” he says, “The act wants the land owners to be compensated with land in some other place. To give market value is okay but then we have to give alternate land. This is very difficult for a small state like Goa where land is at a premium. Also this will require more acquisition (of land).”
“Investment policy implementation will be delayed. So will most development projects,” D Souza said, adding, “The Centre has to be clear on all this.”
Salient points
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 will regulate land acquisition and lays down rules for granting compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement.
The act will replace the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, a nearly 120-year-old law enacted during British rule.
The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in India on 7 September 2011. Out of the 235 members who voted on the bill, 216 backed it while 19
voted against it.
According to the act the market value of the land to be acquired, has to be set higher than the minimum land value, specified for the registration of sale deeds in the area.
The market value would be multiplied by a factor of, at least one to two times the market value for land acquired in rural areas and at least one times the market value for land acquired in urban areas.
