States & UTs will now be ranked on their ability to implement land acquisition projects

New Delhi: Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh on Thursday launched the Management Information System (MIS) portal for rankings of states and UTs in Land Acquisition Projects under RFCTLARR Act, 2013. (Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013). On the occasion, Union Minister also announced that as per the ranking and performance, the top three states and top three districts will be awarded.

Calling it a 'Vikas Portal', Singh said that this MIS portal will not show only data and figures but it will show the speed of the development in the country. He said that this portal is a result of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give impetus to the government's Gati Shakti Mission.

Expressing concern over the delayed implementation of the projects in the country, the minister said that delay in completion of projects increases the project cost and hampers the speed of development. He also said that because of the ranking available to all states, it will be easier for them to monitor the progress of the developmental projects. Due to this, the speed of the projects will increase and the officials who are doing good work will get motivated.

Joint Secretary of LR Sonmoni Borah (IAS) who is looking after the project said that the portal and the ranking assessment system will contribute immensely to achieving ease of living, ease of doing business and the interface of government to citizens and government to the government will further strengthen. "This will bring in more transparency,  healthy competition among states and districts and this will benefit one and all, from citizens affected by land acquisition to government agencies, departments and ministries as a strict timeline will be incentivised and encouraged. This will reduce delays, and address other related issues like public grievances, rehabilitation, resettlement and cost overrun etc", he added.

The Department of Land Resources developed this MIS portal to capture information on various parameters of land acquisition required for ranking of states/UTs, which is a software-driven programme to submit information by respective state/UTs on land acquisition for developmental projects. The portal is developed in house by the NIC team of the department with zero cost. The link to the portal is larr.dolr.gov.in.

In the first phase, land acquisition under RFCTLARR Act, 2013 undertaken from January 1, 2014, onwards will be covered for ranking purposes and this will be a continuous process. The suggestions or inputs received from the states/UTs have been considered and incorporated in the parameters for rankings. Each state and UT will get marks out of a total of 140 marks. There is also the provision of negative marking for delaying implementation.

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