Taking a big decision on land acquisition, the Madhya Pradesh government has announced to give compensation to farmers 4 times the guideline value. With this, farmers will get fair prices and development projects will also get a boost.
Bhopal. Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Dr. Mohan Yadav took an important and historic decision in the interest of farmers on 22 April. Now, if any farmer’s land is acquired in the state, he will be given compensation four times the guideline value. This decision is being considered as a big step towards providing fair price to the farmers for their land and improving their standard of living.
What was the system earlier and why was it not getting the right price?
Earlier, Factor-1 was applicable for land acquisition in Madhya Pradesh from the year 2014. This meant that farmers received compensation double the guideline rate. But in practice, the guideline rate was much lower than the market price, due to which farmers were not able to get the right price for their land. Keeping this problem in mind, the government changed the system and now the compensation has been increased from double to four times.
Which projects will be affected?
This new decision will have a direct impact on many big development projects in the state, such as:
- irrigation projects
- road and bridge construction
- railway line
- Dams and other infrastructure projects
Apart from this, the benefit of this new system will also be available in cases where the final award has not been issued yet.
Under which law was the change made?
This amendment has been made under the ‘Madhya Pradesh Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act-2013’. The rules for determining the value of land have been fixed in Section 26 of this Act. Its main objective is to provide fair compensation to the farmers and maintain transparency in the entire process.
Why was there a need for amendment?
The state government believes that it is very important for farmers to get the right price for their land. Every year about Rs 70,000 to 75,000 crore is invested in roads, expressways, railways and irrigation projects in the state. But due to disputes over compensation in land acquisition, many projects could not be completed on time. Therefore, this amendment was made to find a permanent solution to this problem.
decision taken by forming a committee
Before this decision, a cabinet committee was formed, which was headed by Public Works Minister Rakesh Singh.
The committee included:
- Chaitanya Kashyap (Minister of Small and Medium Industries)
- Tulsiram Silavat (Water Resources Minister)
This committee held discussions with various organizations like FICCI, CREDAI, CII and farmer representatives. With everyone’s consent, it was recommended to increase Factor 1 to 2, thereby increasing the compensation 4 times.
How much compensation will you get now?
Under the new system:
- The Public Works Department earlier used to give compensation of Rs 10,000 crore, now it will increase to about Rs 20,000 crore.
- Earlier, Rs 1,000 crore was fixed for 4500 hectares of land by the Water Resources Department, now this amount will also be doubled.
This entire amount will be deposited directly into the accounts of the farmers.
Balance between development and farmer interest
The Chief Minister says that this decision is not just about increasing the compensation, but is related to the respect of the farmers. The aim of the government is that development projects should be completed quickly and farmers should also get their rights.
Government’s commitment to farmer welfare
The government believes that development is possible only when farmers become partners in it. Many projects were stuck for years just because of land disputes. Now this decision will give impetus to these projects. The government also clarified that:
- The rules have been simplified
- Disputes related to compensation will reduce
- Farmers will get payment on time