Odisha govt reduces contingency cost of land acquisition for industrial projects

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has reduced land acquisition contingency from 20 per cent to seven per cent of cost of acquisition for facilitating smooth transfer of land for industrial projects under Make-in-Odisha initiative.

As per the new provision, five per cent of the estimated cost of land acquired directly will go to government account while two per cent will be retained in the bank account of the district collector or special land acquisition officer. Of the two per cent, 0.10 per cent will be transferred to Revenue and Disaster Management department and 0.20 per cent to the revenue divisional commissioner (RDC) concerned.

A notification issued by the Revenue department said that the amount to be retained with the district collector/special land acquisition officer will be spent for purposes specified in the guidelines of accounting procedure rules for land acquisition contingencies.

In case of land acquired through IDCO, 3.5 per cent of the cost will be retained by the state PSU while two per cent will be transferred to the account of collector and 1.5 per cent to government treasury. The interest accrued on the amount deposited for land acquisition contingencies will be credited to specified government account. This has been done on recommendation of a Task Force constituted by the government to suggest necessary changes in existing revenue laws for facilitating smooth transfer of land for industrial projects under Make-In-Odisha initiative.