Online portal to speed up and streamline land purchase for national highway projects
CHENNAI: The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has developed a web portal to streamline and speed up the process of land acquisition, which often contributes to national highway projects being stalled or delayed. The portal is expected to bring in transparency and reduce the time required to process land compensation claims of affected parties.
The ministry has been undertaking workshops across the country, introducing the facility to local stakeholders, besides obtaining their feedback. One such orientation programme was held in Chennai on August 3, in which officials of the Highways and Revenue departments from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry participated. Senior officials from MoRTH and National Informatics Centre (which has developed the software) were present.
According to statistics provided by MoRTH, 363 National Highway (NH) projects across the country have been delayed due to problems in land acquisition, utility shifting and other reasons. This includes seven projects in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to Express, Highways department officials said the web portal, which is not yet operational, will be beneficial for both authorities and public. “The workshop was held to introduce us to the facility and also seek our feedback on improving it,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.
All land records will be hosted online. Details of the land, such as whether it has patta or not and its usage, will be readily available. Authorities will also have information about the land and building valuation.
The officer said, “There will be no physical movement of files from local land acquisition officers all the way to the highest authority under the new system.”
As far as the common man is concerned, they will be able to see the extent of their land that is required and compensation they can expect to receive. More significantly, they will be able to keep track of the file status just at the click of a button.