land acquisition/sez & displacement â 2011 - Indian Social Institute

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suggestions have been received for tightening the definition of public purpose to remove scope of itsmisuse. He said "land for railways, highways, ports, power and irrigation purposes for use by governmentor public sector companies" has been included in the definition of public purpose. The minister said theconsent of at least 80 percent of project-affected people is needed if land is acquired in public interest bygovernment where the benefits largely accrue to the general public or is acquired by the government orpublic sector companies for infrastructure or urbanisation projects. Consent of at least 80 percent ofproject affected people is also needed if land is acquired in public interest for private companies forproduction of goods for provision of public services. Ramesh said the bill will apply to all cases of landacquisition where before the date of commencement of the act, "the award has not been made under theLand Acquisition Act, 1894, or, possession of land has not been taken regardless of whether award hasbeen made or not". He said special benefits under rehabilitation and resettlement available to theScheduled Tribes have been extended to the Scheduled Castes. A modification has also been made inrehabilitation and resettlement provisions. These provisions now become applicable if the land purchasedis 100 acres in rural areas and 50 acres in urban areas. The draft bill said these would be applicable ifland acquired exceeds 100 acres. Ramesh said the sum to be paid by the land acquirer if he is not able toprovide employment has been increased from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh. The minister said he had spoken toleaders of political parties and there was almost unanimous support for the bill. He said extensiveconsultations had been held with National Alliance for People's Movements and he had gotrepresentation from CII and FICCI. He said the clause to give retrospective effect to the bill was inspiredby demands from farmers of Uttar Pradesh. The farmers in the state, who had been agitating against theland acquisition policy of Mayawati government, had met the minister earlier this month with theirdemands. The minister said states such as Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal and Kerala had reservationsover the provision in the draft bill which prohibits acquisition of multi-crop irrigated land. "They feel it canbe a restrictive clause. We may improve it," he said. He said the purpose of the bill was to allow for landto be acquired in a transparent manner. (New Kerala 20/8/11)Land Bill to benefit cos building townships & urban projects (4)New Delhi: The government has redefined public purpose in the new Land Acquisition Bill to allowcompanies developing townships and urban projects to be also included in the definition. However, it hasadded a rider that such urban projects should be meant for the purpose of production of goods for publicor providing public services. This keeps open the window for real estate companies to approach the stateor the central government to help them in acquiring land. The changes also take into account the hugerequirement that will be thrown up by the government-owned Delhi Mumbai Corridor IndustrialDevelopment Corporation to acquire land. The changes are part of the amendments to the proposedNational Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011. But for any project even whencategorised for ‘public purpose’ will only go through if 80% of the families affected by the projects acceptthe change in land use. The earlier version of the Bill did not elaborate the meaning of 'public purpose'used for land acquisition. The changes by Jairam Ramesh incorporates the suggestions made by industrybodies CII and FICCI, state governments and civil society organisations. It was put up for responses bythe rural development ministry last month. The key public purpose as per the new Bill would also includeprojects supported by government and public sector companies in the areas of railways, highways, ports,power and irrigation purpose. “The changes have been incorporated in the Bill after getting approval fromthe law ministry and has been sent for inter-ministerial consultation,” Ramesh said on Friday. He said theBill could be introduced in the current season of Parliament. The Bill has also hiked the compensationgiven to project affected people from R2 lakh to R5 lakh when the industry is unable to provideemployment to concerned persons. On the issue of timeline for implementation of the new act whichwould supersede the existing 18 laws such highways, SEZs, defence, railways etc, the new version of Billhas stated that it would be implemented with retrospective effect provided 'the award for land acquired isnot completed or possession of land has not been taken under the existing Land Acqusition Act, 1894'.The modified version of the Bill also made provision of five acre of alternate land to be given to ScheduleCastes & Schedule Tribes 'regardless of loss of land.' And special benetif of Resettlement andRehabilitation would be given to SCs along with STs. While ruling out acquisition of multi-cropped andirrigated land, the bill has allowed private sector companies to buy land directly from farmers and owners.“The Bill does not prohibit private players purchasing land, this law is for land acquisition,” Rameshsaid…. (The Financial Express 20/8/11)
Land issues hit road work (4)Thiruvananthapuram: The delay in land acquisition in certain stretches for road development is affectingwork under the City Roads Improvement Project (CRIP). Work being taken up on a total of 18.62 km, invarious road corridors, is scheduled for completion by September. “We have completed even bitumenworks in 16 km (of the 18.62 km) taken up under the second phase. But the authorities have not handedover land in some critical areas, though the matter was taken up at the highest level,” an official ofTrivandrum Road Development Company Ltd. (TRDCL), the implementing agency of CRIP, told TheHindu. There is delay in handing over land belonging to the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) nearAyurveda College on MG Road. Close to 600 metres of land along the cemetery and Mar Thoma Churchat Pattoor would also be required. Acquisition would also be required for the construction of a flyoveracross the arterial road at Melepazhavangadi and relocation of shops behind the city bus stand at EastFort. The TRDCL had decided not to wait for the handing over of the land in these critical corridors. “Oncethe land is handed over and the utilities shifted, we will take up and complete the remaining work,” theofficial said. Till then, these areas will continue to be bottlenecks in the CRIP corridors. The 260-metrestretch extending from Pazhavangadi to East Fort and the Pulimoodu-Ayurveda College stretch will bethe main bottlenecks on the arterial road. The work on the Pazhavangadi - East Fort stretch can be takenup only after the construction of a flyover at Melepazhavangadi and relocation of traders on the PowerHouse and Thakaraparambu roads. In Corridor III (extending from Museum to Overbridge via BakeryJunction and Thampanoor) the first layer of bitumen laying had been completed till Model SchoolJunction. The work on the footpath and median was nearing completion. Traffic signals had been installedat the Panavila junction. Vehicle movement would be streamlined and medians constructed at theGeneral Hospital junction (in the Airport-Asan Square stretch, Corridor IV). In Corridors V and VI, TRDCLhad decided to complete tarring up to the Parthas junction on the Power House road by the month end.Bitumen work will be completed in the Pattoor-Vanchiyoor stretch and on the West Fort-Sreekanteswaram stretch by August. In the Pattom-Medical College-Ulloor stretch, TRDCL had decidedto complete work in the Pattom-Pottakuzhi section by this month. The Murinjapalam bridge would bedemolished to construct a four-lane bridge. A temporary bridge would be constructed. The 0.36-kmUlloor-Kochulloor road, to be developed under Phase II, is moving slow due to the delay in laying asewage line. In Corridor 10, from Kowdiar to Peroorkada, the authorities had decided to put in placesolar-powered traffic signals at Peroorkada. Work on 41.95 km had been taken up under CRIP — 14.26km in the first phase, 18.62 in the second, and 9.06 km in the final phase. Under phase II, work was takenup on the 0.244-km LMS - Students Centre stretch, 1.35-km Vellayambalam – Sasthamangalam, 2.63-kmLMS – Attakulangara, 2.02-km Museum - Bakery Junction – Thampanoor – Overbridge, 0.87-km Airport-MLA Hostel, 0.54 Vanross Junction - Secretariat west gate, 2.3-km Kowdiar - Pattom, 0.81-km Pattom –Murinjapalam - Medical College - Ulloor, 0.36-km Ulloor - Kochulloor, 2.01-km Kowdiar - Peroorkada,1.43-km Peroorkada - Vazhayila, 1.02-km Attakulangara – Sreevarahom - Eenchakkal, and 2.98-kmMurinjapalam - Poonthi Road - NH Bypass stretches. (The Hindu 21/8/11)Anti-Posco protesters prevent coastal road construction (4)Pradip: After a few days lull, the proposed Posco plant site in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district on Saturdaywitnessed noisy scenes with anti-project activists preventing start of construction of a coastal road.Activists of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) chased a group of people who had been to an areaunder Dhinkia panchayat along the sea for construction of a coastal road. The proposed coastal road isplanned to be laid from the Paradip Oil Refinery to Posco area, the foundation for which was laidyesterday. As the contractor and workers were proceeding to the site during the day, PPSS activistsprotested the move and chased them away, official sources said. The district administration had a toughtime in convincing a large number of protesters who blocked the road at Gadakujanga by erectingbamboo baricades. Like the protests at Gobindpur and Nuagaon, the protestors at Gadakujanga includedwomen and children under the banner of Kunjabehary Anchalik Surakshya Samittee (KASS) since August16. Gadakujanga is one of the three routes to Posco site from Balitutha junction. The other routes throughGobindpur and Nuagaon remained blocked by PPSS and United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-industryoutfit. The district administration along with police force and a magistrate went to Gadakujanga toconvince the protesters to lift the agitation as all works including tree felling, ground levelling and removalof betel vines remained suspended since August 16. “We had discussion with them. We will resume thework at Posco site after convincing the people”, Additional District Magistrate, Paradip, Surajit Das said.Leaders of KASS alleged that police had converted Posco area into their fiefdom through “dagagiri”.
Page 5 and 6: order. Each kit contains a kitchen
Page 7 and 8: Jharkhand Opposition rejects rehabi
Page 9 and 10: the new location shall only be iden
Page 11: Development, Acquisition, Displacem
Page 14 and 15: a plot of land within the schedule
Page 16 and 17: land acquisition was a major challe
Page 18 and 19: debate on the issue of land acquisi
Page 20: SEZ land use policy flayed (4)The A
Page 23 and 24: eceive any such complaints. Look at
Page 25 and 26: Singur case: West Bengal to begin a
Page 27: natural calamities should be brough
Page 31 and 32: The government's land acquisition p
Page 33 and 34: the award (compensation) has not be
Page 35 and 36: 2011 it has been mentioned under Cl
Page 37 and 38: Paradip, Sept. 26: A violent clash
Page 39 and 40: Govt cannot change purpose of acqui
Page 41 and 42: new clause bans change of purpose i
Page 43 and 44: Supreme Court would be taken only a
Page 45 and 46: ‘Land acquisition at market price
Page 47 and 48: India Economic Forum on Monday. Rep
Page 49 and 50: decades for massive acquisition of
Page 51 and 52: the apex court, Tamil Nadu alleged
Page 53 and 54: policy," he demanded. The fresh sti
Page 55: overall cost has already increased

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land acquisition/sez & displacement â 2011 - Indian Social Institute