Raipur. An important proposal of the Commercial Tax (Registration) Department was approved in the meeting of the Council of Ministers held in the Secretariat (Mahanadi Bhawan) yesterday under the chairmanship of CM Vishnudev Sai. This proposal is related to the market valuation of agricultural land in rural areas in the state, in which an attempt has been made to remove the discrepancies prevailing among farmers, beneficiaries affected by land acquisition and revenue related matters.
Under the approved proposal, the rate of land plot up to 500 square meters will be abolished for calculating the market value of rural agricultural land and the entire area will be calculated at hectare rate. This arrangement will be helpful in avoiding the kind of irregularities that came to light in the Bharatmala project and Arpa Bhainsajhar of Bilaspur. Similarly, along with eliminating the provision of valuing the converted land of rural area two and a half times that of irrigated land, rates will be determined in square meters for the lands of villages adjoining the urban boundary and the lands of the investment area. With the implementation of this proposal, the number of disputes in land acquisition related cases will decrease and farmers will get transparent and fair compensation.
Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai has said that this decision is a visionary step towards policy making. He has described this decision as a historic step in the interest of farmers and beneficiaries affected by land acquisition. He believes that by bringing transparency in the process of guideline rates, we will not only provide justice to the farmers but will also speed up the pace of development projects of the state. This change will be a meaningful effort towards making the system of land pricing in the state more transparent, simple and dispute-free.
