In a major policy decision to further strengthen the transmission capacity in Maharashtra, the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday approved a revised policy for compensation payable for land to be used for laying high tension transmission lines.
The revised compensation policy will be applicable for laying 66 kV and above high tension transmission lines.
The government as per the revised policy has decided to pay the compensation as per rate whichever is higher between Ready Reckoner(RR) rate or last three year transaction rate for the area under the tower. ‘’Either RR rate or last three-year transaction rate whichever is higher is applicable for the calculation of the compensation,’’ said the energy department principal secretary Dinesh Waghmare. The User Agency pays compensation for two parts comprising area under the tower and area under the wire corridor.
‘’For the area underwire the earlier 15% has been revised to 30% for the calculation of compensation,’’ said Waghmare. He further noted that in the transmission line projects land acquisition is not applicable and only right of way is applicable. The revised policy will be applicable for all ongoing and prospective new projects to be implemented by the state-run companies including MahaTransco and private sector players in the state. The revised policy will boost transmission projects in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the rest of Maharashtra. Expenditure will have to be done through their annual revenue requirement.’’
As per the earlier compensation policy, the compensation for area under the tower was two times based on the RR rate and for the area, under the wire corridor it was 15% of the wire area with the RR rate. Compensation was very less as the RR rate was lower than the market rate and not acceptable to the farmers and landowners as there was severe resentment.
The Chief Minister’s Office said that the revised proposal is aimed at expediting the construction of transmission towers and thereby helping uninterrupted evacuation of power. The cabinet’s decision is important as Adani Transmission Ltd is currently involved in laying the 400 kV Kharghar Vikhroli transmission line and the AEML Infrastructure Ltd is developing the Kudus-Aarey HVDC transmission line. In addition, the Mumbai Urja Marg Transmission Project conceptualised by the Ministry of Power is being implemented by Sterlite Power. The project comprises 400 kV Padgha to Kharghar transmission line, 400 kV Padgha to Navi Mumbai transmission line and 220 kV Apta Taloja transmission line.
According to the revised policy, the Sub-Divisional Assessment Committee shall retain the power to determine appropriate remuneration in exceptional circumstances. No construction shall be permitted in the prescribed route of the transmission channel. Compensation for crops, fruit trees or other trees will be given as per the prevailing policy of the concerned department. This policy will be applicable to entire Maharashtra including Mumbai and Mumbai suburb districts.
The compensation for the land affected by the tower will be deposited directly into the bank account of the concerned farmer as well as the land owner. This policy will be applicable to all existing and newly proposed very high-tension transmission line projects from the date of promulgation of the relevant government decision. There will be an Evaluation Committee headed by the Sub Divisional Officer to fix the remuneration.
In case of difficulty in the implementation of this policy, a committee headed by the Energy Department Principal Secretary will take a policy decision.
