BJP government in Maharashtra raises compensation by four-fold for land buys

MUMBAI: Even as the BJP government at the Centre is struggling to push through the land acquisition bill, the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in Maharashtra has made significant tweaks to the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, which could make land acquisition easier for the state.

The state government has decided to increase the compensation amount in rural areas four-fold -the highest given by any state in the country, as claimed by some government officials.

According to a notice issued by the Maharashtra government on May 26, people living in rural areas whose land is being acquired will be compensated four times, up from 2.2 times earlier.

For instance, under the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, a land owner in a rural area with a land holding Rs 1 lakh per acre under the priced at ` Ready Reckoner Rates (RRR) would get Rs 2.2 lakh if his land was being acquired by the state.

However, under the new norm, the state would pay the land owner Rs 4 lakh Rs The state has also raised ` the compensation for acquiring land in semi-urban areas; while earlier a land owner used to be paid 1.2 times higher than the RRR, now he would be paid 1.5 times more.

The Maharashtra government's decision is part of a range of measures taken by the Fadnavis government to work around the Land Acquisition Act of the UPA government without reducing the compensation given to land owners.

On May 12, the state had decided to allow officials to buy land directly from landowners for irrigation and government projects and offer them a compensation that was 25% more than land owners would get under the 2013 Act.