Preparations have been started to amend the existing law on land acquisition so that even the provincial and local levels have the right to acquire land.
The draft of the bill prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs to amend and unify the law on land acquisition has a provision that the provincial government and the local level can acquire land.
In the Land Acquisition Act, 2034, which is being implemented, the provincial and local levels do not have such rights. There is a provision in the law that the government should acquire such land if it is necessary for the state and local level. Now it is proposed to give the right to acquire private land to the provincial and local levels, but it is proposed to keep the right to take decisions on public, government, community or group land. In the proposed draft, it is said that the state government or the local level should request the government to acquire such land for any project. The province has been demanding the right to acquire land for development and implementation of various projects. There is a complaint that due to the lack of land acquisition rights, the development work conducted by the provincial and local levels is being hindered.
Jainarayan Acharya, joint secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that the right to acquire land for development and construction has been proposed in the draft of the bill. In the proposed draft, it is said that when the state government or any body under the state government takes private land, it should be compensated. The same right has been proposed in the case of the local level.
In the constitution, provinces have been given the right to carry out development activities such as electricity, irrigation, drinking water, transportation, public roads, health services, mining exploration, and industrialization at the provincial level.
The local level has the right to work on the development of local roads, rural roads, agricultural roads, irrigation, drinking water, small hydropower projects and alternative energy. Acharya, joint secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that the state and local levels need the right to acquire land to advance development. The ministry has also made public the draft of the bill with those proposals for public concern.
Before starting the necessary process for land acquisition, a report should be prepared after studying whether the land is suitable for the purpose for which the land is being acquired. It is said in the draft that the land acquisition process can be furthered by conducting an evaluation study of the impact on the community and other social impacts from the implementation of the project. The meeting of the National Coordinating Council, which has the authority to coordinate between the union, state and local governments, on June 16 decided that the land acquisition rights will be transferred soon.
