Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) to the State Government S. K. Joshi has asked the District Collectors to be proactive in acquiring land for irrigation projects in tune with the priorities of the government.
In a video conference conducted from the Secretariat with District Collectors on Tuesday, Mr. Joshi said the State Government was giving top priority to irrigation projects and a proactive role by them was needed since the major bottleneck in the progress of irrigation projects had been the delay in land acquisition.
He, however, asked the Collectors to submit utilisation certificates for funds released for land acquisition already and for releasing funds afresh. He pointed out that utilisation certificates for Rs.1,700 crore kept at the disposal of Collectors had not been received by the government so far. Except the Collector of Mahabubnagar, all others were lagging behind in the aspect, he remarked. Making the entire process online was the best solution, he said.
Mr. Joshi said the proposals for rehabilitation of people to be displaced by land acquisition should reflect reality. He told the Collectors that the draft copies of the amendment act to the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, would be sent to all of them soon but there was no need to wait for completion of the process of its formal assent by the President.
He told the Collectors to set up land banks and asked the Collectors of Jagtiyal, Yadadri and Peddapalli districts to complete the land acquisition in pending cases.
On Mission Kakatiya, the Special Chief Secretary said the first phase works would be completed by the month-end and second phase works by June-end.