States complain against Land Acquisition Act

Most of the states today came out openly against the new Land Acquisition Act, complaining that it had hurt the process of acquiring land for infrastructure projects and demanded "drastic changes" in certain provisions of the farmer-friendly law.
At a meeting of State Revenue Ministers' here chaired by Union Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari, the states including Congress-ruled Haryana objected to provisions for mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent locals for acquiring land for public-private-partnership (PPP) projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies.
The states also opposed provisions for Social Impact Assessment (SIA) study, which is made mandatory in all land acquisitions, saying that it was "time consuming and leading to cost escalation in small projects".

The common refrain of most of the states was that certain provisions of the law, enacted during the tenure of previous UPA government, were posing a major hindrance in acquiring land for infrastructure and industrial projects.
"We have taken note of issues raised by states and will prepare a report which will be submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in ten days," Gadkari told reporters later.
At the same time, he expressed the government's commitment to protect the interest of farmers.
"As far as the interest of farmers is concerned, especially compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement, our party and government have already decided we will not compromise any condition related with beneficiaries, particularly farmers," he said.