The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Government opts for land purchase over acquisition

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Wednesday, Nov 04, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Government opts for land purchase over acquisition

S. Rajendran

1,800 acres of land has been purchased
in 120 villages from landowners
Government is paying up in full for outright purchase

BANGALORE: The State Government has opted for outright purchase of land over the time-consuming process of acquisition for the massive housing programme that is being undertaken across 13 districts of the State to relocate nearly 225 low-lying villages. These are the villages that bore the brunt of the recent floods in the Krishna and Tungabhadra basins.

Sources in the State Government told The Hindu that nearly 1,800 acres of land has been purchased in 120 villages, and the process of paying the landowners is under way.

Record time

It has all been done in a record time of less than a month after the floods that caused the collapse of over three lakh houses. Unlike in private land dealings where the owners are first paid an advance and then the final settlement is effected in three to six months, the Government is paying up the amount in full for the outright purchase.

The deputy commissioners, along with the local revenue officials, have been given the discretion of finalising the price.

While in most areas, land owners have volunteered to part with their land at the prescribed guidance value, there have also been instances where land owners have been paid several times more than the guidance value, said sources.

The Finance Department has disbursed funds amounting to Rs. 15 crore to the deputy commissioners to purchase land in the minimum possible time.

Under the Revenue Act, deputy commissioners have powers to convert agricultural land for housing purposes as the Government is itself constructing the houses.

Timeframe

The nodal officer for the rehabilitation work, S.M. Jaamdar, who is also the Managing Director of Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd., has prescribed a timeframe for the construction of the houses which will be more or less of the same design. To ensure that the houses are set to standard, the services of the civil engineering departments in the engineering colleges in the districts will be utilised to carry out third-party inspections.

The deputy commissioners and local revenue officials have been directed to supervise the construction work.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa told The Hindu that Mr. Jaamdar has been vested with this responsibility as he was fully conversant with all revenue matters, particularly in the field of rehabilitation work.

Aim

The Government’s aim now is to provide houses to the affected in about six months.

While house construction works have commenced in three districts, work will begin in another three districts in about a week.

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