Panel wants details on projects stuck due to acquisition issue

The parliamentary panel on the land bill has sought from the government details of the projects which have been stuck due to acquisition issues.
The committee is supposed to give its report by the end of winter session.
The panel is comprehensively studying and analysing all aspects of the bill and therefore has sought details from the Department of Land Resources about the projects which have been stuck due to acquisition issues, a source said.
Since the land acquisition bill was pending in Parliament, the government had promulgated ordinance on four occasions.
But giving up the ordinance route, the government had on August 28 last issued a 'statutory order' to include 13 central acts like National Highway and Railways acts to extend benefits to those whose land is acquired under land law.

The Land Acquisition Act, 2013 had exempted 13 acts from its purview with the condition that they would be brought within the ambit of the act within one year. The NDA's ordinance in December 2014 had brought these 13 acts under the new land bill.
At the same time, it also made significant changes in the Land Acquisition Act 2013 including removal of consent clause for acquiring land for five areas - industrial corridors, PPP projects, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and defence.
Facing stiff protests from the Opposition as well as allies, the NDA government decided not to press with the ordinance for the fourth time and BJP members in the parliamentary panel moved amendments seeking to restore certain clauses of the earlier bill.