Govt to pay more for Ashraya land

 It has decided to pay three times more than the guidance value as compensation to the private land owners.

Due to increase in land prices, the Government has been finding it difficult to acquire private land for the scheme. For there was a huge difference between the guidance value and the market value of land. The land owners are, therefore, unwilling to give away their land as per the guidance value. As a result, the scheme failed to make much progress. A Government Order has been issued hiking the compensation recently.

The Government has set a target of distributing two lakh sites to the rural poor under the scheme.

There are about 10.18 lakh people who do not own residential sites. For acquiring land in and around major cities, where land prices will be very high, the Government will fix a separate rate, official sources said.