Farmers in Uttar Pradesh surrendering their land for industry will get their regular compensation cheques from banks or insurance companies. They will not have to make trips to the government treasuries and wait hours to get their dues. In order to make the resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy attractive for land-owners and farmers giving up land for building roads, towns and industry, the state government has decided to outsource the payment of annuity to them.
The government will float a request for qualification-cum-request for proposal to engage financial institutions ? mainly banks and insurance companies ? to disburse payments under its R&R policy. As per this policy, dispossessed landowners and farmers will get Rs 20,000 per acre per year for 33 years, along with the additional amount of Rs 600 increased annuity per year.
A senior official from the state industry department told FE that an estimated 5,000 hectares are acquired on an average every year for various development initiatives launched by the state government. ?The transaction is likely to run into thousands of crores over a long period of time and the state machinery is not well-equipped to handle and distribute such huge amounts to the farmers and keep accounts for such a long period. Since both the scale and the period are vast, we came upon the idea to engage service providers to come up with a new financial product to cater to a demand of this size,? he said, adding that the move was designed chiefly to benefit farmers. ?Our main concern was to provide a hassle-free R&R policy to the farmers, who need not run from pillar to post to get their compensation. In this respect, this module appeared to be the best,? he stated.
Uttar Pradesh is positioning itself as the state with the most progressive R&R policy in the country and become the first to permit service delivery under the policy to a public-private partnership.