• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Kolkata, April 16 The Planning Commission is pushing the State to institutionalise independent valuation of agricultural land to be acquired for industrialisation. This suggestion follows from the national policy on rehabilitation and resettlement framed by the Centre in October 2007, Mr Santosh Mehrotra, Senior Consultant, Planning Commission said here on Tuesday.

As of now, the compensation package offered to land loser depends on the value of land evaluated by the land-taker. An independent valuation mechanism will bring transparency to the process, Mr. Mehrotra said on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries.

The farmers would get a fair price only when an independent licence-valuer evaluates the land in question.

This is prevalent in other countries including Thailand and should be the practice in India as well, he said. This requires specialised training institutes to educate professionals in this regard, he added.

In the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Planning Commission has also asked the States to resort to land record management through upgrading and computerisation of data, he said.

“Nearly Rs 500 crore has been provided to the States for this purpose a lot of which remains unutilised,” he said.

“The State should acquire land only where public purpose is involved such as military use, social infrastructure and mining,” Mr Mehrotra emphasised.

Mr Satish Chandra Tewary, Secretary, Land and Land Reforms Department, West Bengal, said the State would shortly submit its response to the Lok Sabha Secretariat on both the land acquisition amendment Bill and the rehabilitation and resettlement Bill waiting to be passed in Parliament.

More Stories on : Real Estate & Construction | Trends | West Bengal

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Great Lakes placement

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line