New Delhi: Defending the ordinance on land acquisition, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday that it will take care of developmental needs of the country, while giving a higher compensation to farmers. Mr Jaitley said that infrastructure development in rural areas will also help people in these areas where such infrastructure is inadequate.
“A Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor would benefit thousand of villages while running along the national highway. There could not be a greater opportunity for the rural areas than an industrial corridor running close to agricultural lands,” Mr Jaitley wrote in a social media post. He said that this would generate employment opportunities and enhance the value of the land itself.
Mr Jaitley said that state needs land for any form of development. “Land is required for housing, townships, urbanisation, sub-urbanisation, industrialisation, infrastructure, both urban and rural, irrigation and defence of India,” said the finance minister. He said that a larger public interest always prevails over private interest.
“A highly complicated process of acquisition which renders it difficult or almost impossible to acquire land can hurt India’s development,” said the finance minister. He noted that the present amendment carves out five exceptions for which complicated process of acquisition will not apply. “Roads, highways, flyover, electrification and irrigation will all add to the value of the farmer’s lands. This exemption is entirely in the interest of rural India,” said Mr Jaitley. However, Mr Jaitley pointed out that the provisions relating to compensation to land owners remain untouched.
