The state land acquisition law was passed in the legislature which is deplored by the several parties. Amid the chaos already created by the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, why make another one. Both the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governments are bearing the brunt of land acquisition for Polavaram and Mallanna Sagar projects respectively. Polavaram project’s first phase of the acquisition was from seven villages of Devipatnam Mandal and subsequent phase of acquisition is from the same Mandal. NSG did not give report in Polavaram’s case and this is raised as concern by TS government as the backwaters may drown Badrachalam religious center. Nonetheless, AP government is continuing with the project.
On the other hand, Komaravelli Mallanna Sagar project led to protests at Yetigadda Kishtapur village in Kondapak mandal for acquiring 12,000 acres of land. The protests against the government went to an extent of lathi charge and section 144 was imposed.
The AP government, earlier acquired land by the 1894 act and then the 2013 act. AP did not amend the 2013 land acquisition act and gave the compensation as per the norms, while the Telangana government introduced a new land acquisition specific to its state. Predominantly this act, is to speed up the process of land acquisition, but a significant difference is that the importance of gram Sabha’s is faded vested it in the hands of the collector. The 2013 Act established several new committees, each with its activists and experts who would conduct a social impact assessment, and their report would be scrutinized by another expert group. This never ending cycle is a hurdle to complete the projects swiftly.
The Polavaram project which was initially estimated at INR 16000 crores is now projected to cost INR 40000 crores while the Mallanna Sagar is estimated to cost INR 9800 crores. The TS irrigation minister pompously said that the state sustained with no assistance from center for the irrigation project. This delay in construction will shoot up the expenditure and in no time the TS project can cross the estimated budget and then the state government might end up seeking central assistance.
The assessments as per the 2013 act would take years and eventually lead to the increase in prices. The rich who wait for the process to complete would benefit from it and the poor are at loss especially with the fluctuating real estate prices. The new land acquisition which speeds up the process will have less prejudice.
The prerogative that the compensation paid by the new act is 10 times better than the 2013 act could be true, however, the amount spent on rehabilitation wouldn’t account for more than 3-5% of the project cost. The state governments and the companies do not mind spending extra on the land acquisition to speed up the process, that’s one reason for Gujarat, Rajasthan and now Telangana to get their own acts. The CM has given an option of choosing between best of the two worlds, but it would go by the state act in record number of cases.
As a matter of fact, the Land Bill passed by the congress during 2013 could be due to the cognizance that they were not returning back to power in 2014. It could be seen as a measure to curb the subsequent government to bring many Industries and improve the economy of the country. It is in the interest of states that they dilute the 2013 Land Bill for their own benefit.
