Mamata to acquire land for railway projects

Mamata Banerjee, the union railway minister is looking to acquire large tracts of land in rural areas for a slew of projects.

Ever since Banerjee joined the ministry a year ago, she has proposed to set up factories in her home state to manufacture railway coaches, wagons and locomotives, besides expansion and extension of several railway tracks.

She has told the state government that the railways would pay a substantially higher price.The compensation for land needed by it would be determined under the Railways Act and not on the basis of the standard formula under the British-era Land Acquisition Act.

This implies that the railways could pay up to 60 per cent of the market price of land as additional compensation for voluntarily surrendering land, compared with the West Bengal government’s 30 per cent. The entire cost of acquisition would be borne by the railways.