Field Visit

Inorder to find the actual situation on the ground, we went on field visit to understand various
perspectives of the Land acquisition by interviewing the farmer who lost his land, person who lost land
to railway project and in the PWD office so that it can cover from both the perspectives of the land
owners as well as acquirer. We also wanted to interview industrialists to know about the land
acquisition problems that the industry is facing. The current act has a set of issues though it is a gradual
improvement from the previous act which didn’t have SIA, Rehabilitation steps so understanding it in
current form is paramount for us to get the understanding.

Interview 1 : Balaji Kannan (Large Farmer) , Kovilpatti , TN

Background : He cultivates 45 acres of coconut in his farm and it is located in southern Tamilnadu
(Virudhunagar district).He lost 5 acres of land due to the four ways project which cut his land into two
halves. He is facing trouble with the land area shrinkage as the land acquired reduced the holding in the
particular space to 7 acres which has increased his overhead costs as he need to pay for the same in the
same.

Following are the issues faced by him

• Compensated for the value of land but got lesser compensation on the coconut tree

• Lost proportionally so that cultivation not possible

He suggested the following

 Compensation based on crops sowed

 Timely compensation
 Engage & Build Trust

Interview 2 : Ratheas Krishna , Coimbatore , TN

He is an ordinary resident of cheranmanagar and he owns 25 cents of land in cheranmanagar ,

Coimbatore. He lost his land in the Rail bridge project & it was a compulsory acquisition process that was
followed in the acquisition so the land was acquired at the rate of 17 Lakhs but the actual rate was 30+
lakhs

Issues faced by him

• Compensated at a very low rate of 17 lakh per cent when the actual value is 30+ lakh per cent

• Lot of bureaucratic process and no transparency

• Very high appeal time and no clear information sharing

He suggested the there is a need for transparent system for implementation of the land acquisition so
that the people can understand what is going behind the process.
Government perspective

We interviewed Abdul Gafoor (Deputy executive engineer, PWD) & Shaji (Land acq, PWD) so that we can
understand land acq from government perspective we understood the process behind it and problems
faced by government in land acquisition.

Types of land acquisition

 Land acquisition via negotiation

 Compulsory land acquisition

Process flow

i. If the parties are not ready for negotiation then

compulsory land acquisition

ii. The land is negotiated mostly at the latest registered rate

iii. Unauthorized occupants are also taken care of while

negotiating

iv. No need of any compensation or negotiation for govt property

v. Local Politicians support is required and they are helpful

vi. SIS is carried out Shaji , Land acquisition, PWD

vii. Sent to District collector

Abdul Gafoor, deputy executive engineer PWD
viii. Sent to Revenue department

ix. Requisition authority PWD

Projects current

1) Kuttoth -Attakundu Kadavu road

MLADS provided through special order – 10 lakh per cent

2) Narikuri land acquisition – 7 lakhs per cent Negotiated

purchase
3) SH 29 expansion project – Project stalled for 3 years as only
170 crore sanction of 284 crores

Issues faced by Government

1) Lack of coordination between departments

2) Long drawn acquisition process
3) Lot of pending court cases
4) Lack of fund allocation
5) Lower percapita holding making it difficult for purchase