Andhra Pradesh
government provided incentives to the original owners of land by
exempting them from capital gains tax and stamp duty on the first
sale.
The more-or-less
smooth acquisition of 32,000 acres of land from farmers by the N
Chandrababu Naidu government to build Amaravati, the new capital of
Andhra Pradesh which will be inaugurated Thursday, has prompted the
Centre to consider the state’s land-pooling mechanism as a model
that can be adopted by other states and Central government agencies.
“Union Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley and Urban Development Minister M Venakaiah
Naidu have shown a lot of interest in the process followed by the
state for acquiring land. They have been seeking regular updates on
the process,” said Y S Chowdary, Minister of State (Science &
Technology), who was initially the chairman of a capital committee
set up by Naidu.
Even as Union
Cabinet ministers are studying Andhra’s land-pooling model, certain
Central government infrastructure ministries are already exploring
the feasibility of deploying it for projects such as power
transmission, where large tracts of contiguous land are required.
“Since private developers are struggling for land and there are
obstacles posed by the UPA-legislated land acquisition statute,
alternatives such as the Andhra model should be considered,” said a
power ministry official present in a meeting called to address
concerns of power generation and transmission developers.
Chowdary said his
state’s land pooling method created a “win-win situation” for
both farmers and project developers. He, however, admitted that the
Andhra government stretched itself by handing over 25 per cent of
developed land to original owners. The state had acquired 31,000
acres from about 18,000 farmers by committing an annuity of Rs 50,000
per acre for 10 years and simultaneously giving back 1,250 sq yards
of residential plot and 200 sq yard of commercial plot in the new
city for every acre.
According to
Chowdary, the state need not have acquired so much land, but was left
with little choice because it agreed to partake with the farmers a
larger portion of developed land. Besides the 32,000 acres land
acquired from farmers, the state itself has 22,000 acres. Sources in
the state government said that except for a village where the YSR
Congress was strong, farmers have willingly given the land. “About
3,000 acres is still to be acquired,” a source said.
The Andhra Pradesh
government further provided incentives to the original owners of land
by exempting them from capital gains tax and stamp duty on the first
sale. “Since this was agricultural land and gains would not have
been taxed on sale, the state decided to exempt it from capital gains
tax after change in land use. Also, stamp duty has been waived to
make it worthwhile for the farmers,” Chowdary said.
The land holdings of
farmers vary from 40-50 acres to less than an acre. “While 50 per
cent of the entire land acquired will be utilised for development of
trunk infrastructure and social infrastructure, 25 per cent will be
given back to original land owners and the balance 25 per cent will
remain with the government for other uses,” said Chowdary.
No comments:
Post a Comment