Government to roll out biometric check for land compensation in highway projects

The government will roll out biometric authentication through Aadhaar for transferring compensation for land acquisition in highway projects, aimed at ensuring that payments are credited directly to actual landowners’ bank accounts without lapses, according to Dipak K Dash’ Times of India report.

Under the proposed mechanism, compensation will be transferred instantly to landowners’ accounts after OTP-based biometric authentication is completed.



Also Read: National Highway projects face cost overruns, delays as West Asia war disrupts supplies

Highways agencies under the road transport ministry are currently carrying out a pilot in five states — Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka. The initiative is significant as a large share of land acquisition for public purposes in India is linked to highway development.

During the current financial year, around Rs 19,800 crore has been disbursed for the acquisition of 10,100 hectares for highway development by different agencies, people aware of the development said. The pace of highway construction and greenfield projects has driven increased land acquisition in recent years.

Officials said that earlier, the designated authority for land acquisition and disbursement, CALA (competent authority for land acquisition), used to hand over cheques to landowners. This system has since been replaced with direct bank transfers.

“The new mechanism will eliminate any chance of compensation going to any account other than that of the landowners, as OTP-based biometric authentication establishes the identity of the actual landowner,” an official said, according to the TOI report.


With inputs from TOI