Land owners who gave land voluntarily for the crucial project after May 10, 2010, will be eligible for receiving the arrears.
In a welcome move, the state government has decided to compensate farmers who gave away land voluntarily for the Narmada canal project in the past one year.
The farmers will be paid the arrears as per the revised jantri rates. The government will have to bear an additional outgo of Rs770 crore towards paying arrears and future land acquisition as per revised jantri rates.
"The decision will benefit 55,935 farmers, who voluntarily gave away their land for the Narmada canal project after May 10, 2010," state government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas, told media persons.
According to Vyas, the state government has acquired around 10,183 hectare land in the past one year. The government has to acquire a total of 21,671 hectare land in eight districts for building the canal network in the command area of Narmada project.
"The state government would have had to pay Rs500 crore for acquiring 21,671 hectare land needed for the project. But, with the revised policy, the government will have to spend Rs1,270 crore for acquiring land, an additional outgo of Rs770 crore," he said.
The eight districts where land has been acquired and more land needs to be acquired are Ahmedabad, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana and Kutch.
The state government has also decided to pay for land acquisition according to the revised jantri rates.
"This decision will ensure that farmers who gave their land for the crucial project are not discriminated against. Moreover, the attractive compensation will encourage more land owners to give away their land for the project," minister of state for finance, Saurabh Patel, said.
The new policy was worked out by a group of ministers comprising revenue minister Anandi Patel, water resources minister Nitin Patel and Saurabh Patel.
The state government has allocated Rs6,835 for Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited for the current year.
The government has asked the Nigam to pay the arrears to farmers at the earliest.
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