Cabinet approves CRDA Bill

No decision taken on ordinance route. Some Ministers reportedly suggested that against rushing with the ordinance and wait for the passage of the Bill in the Assembly as the winter session was just a few weeks away.

Though Andhra Pradesh Cabinet approved the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Bill, no conclusive decision was taken on how to take it forward in the meeting here on Tuesday.

The Cabinet debated for long whether to take the ordinance route to make the Bill operational or introduce it in the next Assembly session and postponed the decision for taking legal opinion from the Assistant Advocate General.

Sticking point The sticking point apparently was land pooling as some ministers said that there should be legal sanctity for the government to commence the process. A government order on land pooling may not stand legal scrutiny. Therefore depending on the necessity, thegovernment would either issue an ordinance or get the bill passed in the Assembly, according to sources.

Some Ministers reportedly suggested that against rushing with the ordinance and wait for the passage of the Bill in the Assembly as the winter session was just a few weeks away.

Their argument was the Bill after all was clear in its objective of doing justice to farmers and land owners and facilitate planned development both in the capital city and capital region areas.

However, those in favour of ordinance argued that it would enable the government commence the land pooling process without much delay if the outcome of the Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu’s meeting with the farmers was positive.

Sand mining In the sand mining too, the Cabinet noted that there were several sand reaches in the districts and they should be identified and allotted. In the case of private lands where sand was available, it was suggested that the owners could be given 25 per cent share and the rest should be allotted in a transparent process.