Giving job, land in lieu of land acquired not feasible: Panel

New Delhi, Oct 21 (UNI) A Parliamentary panel has said land acquisition should be done by the government alone and not by any private people or companies and also felt that providing alternate land in lieu of agricultural land acquired or jobs to those affected by displacement was not feasible.

The recommendation was made by the Standing Committee on Rural Development headed by BJP leader Kalyan Singh while giving its report on the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007 under which a provision has been made to give alternate land to the people whose agricultural land has been acquired.

Mr Singh told mediapersons here that the land acquisition for public purpose has to be done by the government alone to avoid any discrepancy in the compensation payment. Under the bill, 70 per cent of the land had to be acquired by the company and 30 per cent by the company concerned.

The panel felt that as the compensation given by the government was higher than private parties so the land has to be acquired by the government alone. The compensation amount has to be calculated at the maximum market rate for the land in the area during the past three years with an additional 50 per cent of the amount, Mr Singh said.

If there was any delay in providing compensation amount the person would get 15 per cent interest on the amount from the government, he added.

Moreover, in case if the total land was not used for the purpose it was acquired the additional land would not be used for any other purpose by the company concerned but return to the government, the panel clarified. This would prevent use of land acquired for industry or hospital being used for housing projects or any other commercial purpose, he said.

If the government or the company establishing industry wants to give jobs to those whose land has been acquired it was free to do but it could not be made mandatory as many a time the expertise required for a particular job was not available among the people whose pieces of land have been acquired, he said.

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