Bill providing for higher compensation for land moved in Lok Sabha

NEW DELHI: A bill providing for compensation upto four times the market value of land in rural areas and twice the value in urban areas along with the stipulation that consent of 80 per cent of the people is necessary was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The much-awaited Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, introduced by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh also proposes controlled acquisition of multi-crop irrigated land for developmental purposes.

The bill prepared after pre-legislative consultations has made significant changes in its earlier draft.

Acknowledging that in its earlier draft, the multiple for total compensation for acquired land in rural areas was 6, Ramesh later said the multiple of compensation in rural area has been reduced to 4 while in urban areas it remains at 2.

He said changes were made after considering "lot of concerns" that were raised in the meeting of the consultative committee of the Ministry during which members said that 6 times compensation in rural areas would "impose a heavy burden on industry and infrastructure".

The proposed legislation, which will replace a more than century old Act, has comprehensively defined the clause "Public purpose" to ensure that Government's intervention in acquisition is limited to "defence, (and) certain development projects only."

"It has also been ensured that consent of at least 80 per cent of the project affected families is to be obtained through a prior informed process," Ramesh said in the statement of objets and reasons of the bill.

The bill also clearly states that multi-crop irrigated land could be acquired "as a last resort measure."

"Multi-crop irrigated land will not be acquired except as a demonstrably last resort measure, which in no case should lead to acquisition of more than 5 per cent of multi-crop irrigated area in a district," he said.