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Lalita Iyer
Lalita Iyer

AMENDED ACT

Telangana to speed up land acquisition after President's assent

land-acquisition-reuters Representative image | Reuters

With the last block being removed, the Telangana government is now ready to acquire lands for all kinds of projects. The government on May 17 issued a gazette notification for The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Telangana Amendment) Bill 2016 to become an Act. It got President's assent last week and was notified by the Union home ministry on Wednesday. 

Immediately after that, the state government also issued a notification bringing the new Act into force with immediate effect. Now, the state government can acquire land and release compensation as per the norms listed in the amended Act. The government will now have no hurdles in taking over the villages. 

The move assumes significance as Vemulghat has fought for close to a year against the acquisition of their village for the Mallanasagar Project. Fourteen villages were to be displaced but Vemulghat has stood its ground and is refusing to give in. The village people have been doing a relay hunger strike and have stood together. 

Md Hayatuddin, a teacher and a school owner from this village says, "We are ready to fight and go to the High Court and to the Supreme Court to fight for our rights. There is a stay on this case, and until this is vacated nothing can happen." 

According to many who oppose the Act, GO 123 and its amendments are in no way similar to or better than the 2013 Act. Many feel that the government must protect the lives and livelihoods of all people. The state government, of course, believes that there is not much difference between the 2013 Act and the GO 123. The State government argues that it is empowered to do so under Section 108 of the 2013 Act itself. 

Now that the ground has been cleared, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has asked his officials to focus on the land acquisition with the help of the new Act. With a number of projects pending and with a lot of promises made, the CM is in a rush. The government needs one lakh acres to complete many of its irrigation projects. According to the irrigation department, as many as 23 irrigation and road projects were affected because of the land hurdles. KCR has accepted in a public meeting that almost all contractors stopped working after GO 123 was cancelled by the high court, resulting in immense project price escalation and leading to a loss of 400 crores for the government.

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Topics : #Telangana

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