THIS IS NO COMPENSATION

The Land Acquisition Act, 2013, makes it mandatory for the government to pay compensation four times the ready reckoner rate, which is an average of the highest sale deeds in an area in the preceding three years. Baban

Harne, convenor, Samruddhi Corridor Sangharsh Samiti, alleges that the government does not want to pay the real compensation. “If they announce compensation of four times the market rate, the whole opposition to the corridor will end,” he says.

Revenue official H.V. Haygunde says four times the ready reckoner rate is 20 per cent more than the market rate. The compensation, he says, is fixed based on a multiplying factor attached to a land’s ready reckoner rate: one in urban areas, two in rural. So, if a piece of land in a rural area is priced Rs 100, its cost becomes Rs 200 due to the multiplying factor, which becomes its base price. A consolation amount of equal value (Rs 200) is then added. Thus, the cost of the land becomes Rs 400, or four times the ready reckoner rate. However, the ready reckoner rate itself could be lower than the market price as buyers don’t always disclose the actual sale amount to pay lower tax.

The government has three proposals for owners: land pooling, direct purchase and acquisition. Under land pooling, owners get 25 per cent area of the developed land and annuity for 10 years. They can also buy back their land after 10 years. In direct purchase, if a land owner signs a sale agreement with the government, he gets 25 per cent above the compensation rate. If he does neither, his land is forcefully acquired.