GHAZIABAD: Families in five villages of Ghaziabad have faced a long and uncertain wait for development. The promise of the Harnandipuram township, projected as a modern urban center, has been clouded by delays in land acquisition.
The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has now opted to invoke the Land Acquisition Act, aiming to accelerate the project.
During a board meeting on Tuesday, the GDA approved moving forward with land acquisition for Harnandipuram under the Land Acquisition Act, moving away from the slower mutual consent method. Since March, only 14 hectares have been secured via negotiations, with another 6 hectares pending, leaving a significant 470 hectares yet to be acquired.
“The current pace of land acquisition has been very slow. With 470 hectares remaining, we realized that the ‘mutually agreed rate’ method might not get us the land on time. Thus, we proposed to the board that acquisition proceed under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, which was approved,” a GDA official stated.
Adopting the Land Acquisition Act is expected to expedite the process. GDA can issue notifications making it mandatory for farmers to relinquish their land at a compensation rate of four times the circle rate for rural areas and twice that for urban areas. “This will help us avoid the lengthy mutual consent process,” the official added.
A previous committee led by the district magistrate had also set compensation rates at four times the circle rate; however, negotiating with individual landowners has been slow and complex.
The Land Acquisition (Rehabilitation & Resettlement) Act of 2013 provides a clear guideline for compensating landowners based on whether their land is in rural or urban regions. To manage costs, GDA is even considering reclassifying some panchayat areas as municipal, which would reduce the compensation multiplier from four to two.
