| Photo Credit: File photomore-inTo speed up land acquisition for its major road projects, the Maharashra cabinet on Tuesday sanctioned the issue of a government resolution amending the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. This will bring the land acquisition process for state highways, district roads, village roads and highways with special status under the Maharashtra Highways Act, 1955, allowing the government to eliminate the conducting of social impact assessments (SIA) and also to acquire irrigated and multi-crop land. The GR will now be applied to all land acquisition for major road projects in the state. It had proposed the inclusion of four State Acts in Schedule V of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, which would have ensured that except for compensation and rehabilitation, no other provisions of the 2013 Act would be applicable. The 1955 Act, being used to construct Samruddhi Expressway, is one of the four acts in Schedule V.

Source: The Hindu May 08, 2018 19:07 UTC