On the back of ongoing fiasco at Nandigram, which appears to be more about protecting political turf than to address the question of ensuring economic survival of those who loose land for industry, the situation on ground in Bengal regarding land acquisition has undergone a complete change.
Not that it was anything different from what it is now, but at least the government has learnt that land acquisition has to be a political process to start with instead of only relying on administrative machinery to do the work.
Yesterday’s all-party meeting at Barasat to discuss how to proceed to get land for NH-34 and 35 is a pointer in that direction. Nearly all parties barring only SUCI agreed that the highway expansion is a necessity in the interest of the nation. After all it’s a project of central public sector company, NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) whose mandate it is to improve road communication in the entire country.
The meeting was very crucial because it was to be seen how political parties feel about a road project, which is a national priority. Fortunately, it ended in near consensus albeit with conditions by opposition parties that before the actual work begins, the compensation package must be thoroughly discussed and agreed upon.
Since it is a central government project, it is unlikely that compensation for land losers will be any different here from what the government offers everywhere else. Still the fact that the political parties have felt the urgency of the project is itself good news.
Meanwhile the state government has begun preparing a land map of the entire state that will describe in detail the condition of land in the state. In hindsight, it can be said that such an exercise should have been done before the state government embarked upon land acquisition spree for setting up industry.
Hopefully, these steps will ensure that land acquisition for industry and infrastructure needs will be lot smoother compared to what has been happening for a while.
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