UP's new policy to lay stress on R&R

The Uttar Pradesh government may soon evolve a new land acquisition policy to speed up the process and provide comprehensive relief and rehabilitation package to the displaced families.

The state government wants the element of rehabilitation to be greater than compensation in cases of land acquisition.

In this regard, a brain storming session of senior government officials under the chairmanship of state chief secretary Atul Kumar Gupta was held yesterday.

The principal secretaries of the departments of finance, housing, PWD, industry and senior officials of UP State Industrial Development Corporation were present in the meeting.

This comes in the backdrop of the raging Singur controversy in West Bengal involving Tata’s Nano project.

“It was the first in the series of such meetings to evolve ideas and gather suggestions,” principal secretary, rehabilitation and industrial development, V N Garg told Business Standard.

The state is also studying the land acquisition policy of Gujarat in this regard. “We are studying the Ahmedabad model of Gujarat, which has borne good results,” he informed.

Broadly the land acquisition in India is governed by the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and National Relief and Rehabilitation Policy, 2007.

“The Land Acquisition Act, 1894, continues even today with some amendments over the years. However, circumstances are entirely different in the present context, which need to be addressed,” Garg underlined.

The state government wishes to provide a better rate of compensation to the land owners and make them partners in the development process.

“We want an equitable model of development to give a leeway to industrialisation and a sustainable livelihood to the land owner or farmer, whose land is acquired,” he explained.

There are several developmental projects underway in UP, where land acquisition would take place in the near future, such as Ganga Expressway, Yamuna Expressway, two proposed power plants in Allahabad and some SEZ projects.