State Revenue Minister Premprakash Pandey on Friday demanded from the Central Government that farmers should get properly compensated for installation of electric tower line on their land.
In the meeting of state revenue ministers held in New Delhi on Friday, Pandey said that tower lines for power distribution were being installed on the land of farmers, for which, under the Indian Telegraph Act, compensation is given only for crop loss.
‘However, the fact is that on installation of a big tower, the land under it cannot be used for agriculture or any other purpose and the farmer is the ultimate loser. So, provision should be made in the ‘New land Acquisition Act’ to provide proper compensation for tower line also’, he said.
Pandey urged the Centre to sanction National land-Record Modernisation Programme (NlRMP) soon in nine districts mainly–Durg, Balod, Bemetara, Raipur, Gariyaband, Baloda Bazar, Mahasamund, Janjgir-Champa and Dhamtari in Chhattisgarh. The programme had been approved for 18 districts of Chhattisgarh. Under the programme, computerized land-record has been prepared in 19,500 out of 20,000 villages of the State.
Pandey also demanded from the Centre to make necessary budget provision for building and modernisation under NlRMP. Giving his suggestion on the New land-Record Act, the Minister said that under various sections of the Act, states should be given power to make rules conforming to their intentions. Before acquisition is made for government project, land should be free from social impact assessment (SIA), he demanded.
Pandey urged the Centre to make provision for hearing of only affected persons, in place of public hearing on land acquisition. By doing so, unnecessary impediment created by uninterested persons could be avoided.Union Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari and revenue ministers from different states were present in the meeting.