Rehabilitation and Resettlement provisions in new Land Acquisition Act to benefit society: Koushik Chatterjee

JAMSHEDPUR: Tata Steel Group Executive Director Koushik Chatterjee said Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R and R) provision in the recently passed Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act would ensure that state governments work for the benefit of the society.

The old Act was more than 100 years old and needed a revamp for the benefit of the society as well as for the industry executing big projects, Chatterjee told reporters here.

The state governments will have to define its own land acquisition Acts, he said, adding that earlier the state governments had to acquire land for private players.

The new Act would help promote big projects, which were hindered in the absence of updated R and R provisions, Chatterjee said.

Stating that the new Act makes more sense at this point of time than not having it, he said it would help address the requirements of the stakeholders, including land owners, share croppers and industries.

The biggest push in the reformed Act was mapping of land by remote sensing agencies, which would help the government to track vast tracts of land and digitalisation of land records, Chatterjee said, claiming the Act would be meaningful in addressing all issues of stakeholders.

However, the government has to enforce transparent implementation of the Act for the larger benefit of the society, he added.