October 6, 2009, New Delhi: Delay in land acquisition has been identified as one of the key factors, which restricts the pace of highway construction in India. As per the Model Concession Agreement of the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) projects, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is required to handover 80% of the land on the date of financial closure of these projects. This means that NHAI will have to acquire the land in a time-bound manner so that the commencement of work is not delayed. Based on the experience in the earlier phases, it was felt that the existing arrangement of acquiring land may not be adequate to meet the challenges of land acquisition works in various states.

To speed up the process of land acquisition, various steps are being undertaken by the Union Government. One such measure is setting up of Special Land Acquisition Units (SLAUs) in each state. As part of this, more than 170 SLAUs are being set up to deal with the cases of land acquisition, exclusively for National Highways Development Projects (NHDPs). Earlier land acquisition for NHDPs was one of the many responsibilities of the state revenue officers. The state-wise number of SLAUs is as follows: Rajasthan (10); Bihar (13); Uttar Pradesh (25); Gujarat (07); Orissa (11); West Bengal (13); Tamil Nadu (26); Jharkhand (04); Maharashtra (11); Punjab (05); Haryana (04); Himachal Pradesh (02); Assam (05); Meghalaya (01); Manipur (01); Mizoram (01); Nagaland (02); Tripura (01); Madhya Pradesh (04); Chhattisgarh (01); J & K (0); Uttarakhand (03); Goa (04); Karnataka (05); Andhra Pradesh (7); Kerala (25); Delhi (0).

Since the last 2 months when instructions in this regard were sent to the states, 55 of such units have already been set up. This includes 20 SLAUs in Tamil Nadu, 4 in Karnataka, 23 in Kerala and 9 in Orissa.

SLAUs would be set up for a specific period of 1 year and will be headed by an ADM/SDM level officer and will have 20-25 members. All the administrative and establishment charges for SLAUs will be borne by NHAI. Infrastructure such as hiring of accommodation, vehicles and telephone services, among others will also be provided by NHAI.

The Special Land Acquisition Units would carry out the following functions:

i) Preparation of notification under Section 3A

ii) Preparation of notification under Section 3D (1)

iii) Preparation of award

iv) Disbursement of compensation to land owners

v) Referring dispute matters related to arbitration cases to the arbitrator, mutation of land acquired under the Act.

As part of this mechanism, senior level revenue officer (ADM level) will be required to coordinate with SLAUs in the state. As acquisition of land requires intensive monitoring at every level right from district, state and central level, it has also been decided that district level coordination committee be constituted under the chairmanship of district magistrates.

It is expected that these special units dedicated to land acquisition would ensure speedy land acquisition and give a boost to the highways development programme.

For more information contact:

Press Information Bureau
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New Delhi - 110 001
Tel: (011) 23389338

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