As many as 189 National Highway projects have been stalled for various reasons, mostly bottlenecks in land acquisition, and it is these hiccups that the National Democratic Alliance government wants to solve, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Urging the States to streamline land acquisition, Mr. Gadkari said the government was keen on working out a compensation and relocation package and even enhancing the remuneration, but a discussion was needed to reduce the delay due to problems in land acquisition.
He said the government was ready to review certain provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, but other parties should cooperate.
“Land acquisition is a State issue and the Centre cannot take suo motu cognisance of these problems. We can increase the compensation package, but we need to work on the delays. As on date, we have 110 rail overbridges pending and each day’s delay is causing a loss of Rs. 15 crore,” he said during a discussion on the demands for grants of the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry.
