The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has urged the State Government to give land for free for building National Highways as the district Collectors are asking it to deposit funds before handing over Government land.
NHAI Chairman Yudhvir Singh Malik requested the State Government to reconsider its decision to demand cost of the land for building NHs.
Malik, while appreciating the State Government for handing over land in the Talcher-Dubri-Chandikhole stretch of National Highway 200/23 for improvement, requested State to review its order to demand deposits for acquisition land in other cases.
The Odisha Government in the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management has issued orders in this regards and had asked the district Collectors to collect deposits from the NHAI before handing over the Government land.
The NHAI is saying that by setting up the National Highways in the State, the social and economic benefits accrue to a community once transportation networks between towns and cities are strengthened.
However, officials feel that the NHAI builds roads under BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) and collects Toll Tax from vehicles.
“This is a commercial venture. Hence, the NHAI should pay the State Government for land transferred to it for highway construction,” said an official.
The NHAI Chairman claimed that most States had transferred the Government land free of cost for the NHAI projects.
The National Authority is acquiring land on behalf of MoRTH to improve National Highways or conversion of State Highways (SH) to National Highways. So in this regard NHAI does not make any commercial use of the land, Malik pointed out.
However, since of late the NHAI is resorting to collect Toll Tax, many State Governments like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jharkhand etc are raising objections to it and are reluctant to provide Government land free of cost.
The amount is stated to be 25 times higher than the ground rent and cess taken together for the land, said sources.