-The Indian Express
“The revised draft Bill was sent for inter-ministerial consultation on August 12. I hope to get Cabinet approval by the first week of September,” he said, hoping to introduce the Bill in the current session which will last till September 8.
That Ramesh moved the draft Cabinet note to ministries concerned on August 12 indicates his hurry to get the Bill introduced.
Initially, he had set August 31 as the deadline for sending public comments on the draft LARR.
Ramesh said the revised Bill has five changes from the draft that was made public on July 29 to invite public comments.
Ramesh said the LARR Act, 2011, would be applicable to cases of land acquisition where the award had not been made under the existing Land Acquisition Act, 1894. It would also apply to cases where possession of land had not been taken despite the award having been made.
He said he had retained the ban on acquisition of irrigated multi-crop land despite objections from certain states, although he was open to changes and the Cabinet would take a call on it.
The revised Bill has specified a fresh category of land acquisitions for Railways, highways, ports, power and irrigation by government or its agencies as public-purpose items under infrastructure category.
While the previous draft mandated that rehabilitation and resettlement was applicable to land purchase of 100 acres or more in rural and urban areas alike, the revised Bill has reduced this limit to 50 acres in urban areas.
The revised Bill has introduced a parity between SCs and STs over the mandatory requirement of land for land compensation. It has also enhanced one-time compensation for failure to provide employment from Rs 2 lakh in previous draft to Rs 5 lakh.