Parliament Question: Compensation for Land Acquisition under Bharatmala Pariyojana

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 6339 ANSWERED ON 02ND APRIL, 2026 COMPENSATION FOR LAND ACQUISITION UNDER BHARATMALA PARIYOJANA 6339. SHRI KARTI P CHIDAMBARAM: Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार् ग मंत्री be pleased to state: (a) the total land required and land acquired for projects under Bharatmala Pariyojana since 2017 as on date, State-wise and project-wise; (b) the total compensation assessed and disbursed for such land acquisition, State-wise and year-wise; (c) the number of cases where compensation or rehabilitation and resettlement payments remain pending beyond statutory timelines under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013; and (d) whether any review has been conducted on cost escalation in bharatmala projects due to delays in land acquisition and the project-wise extent of such escalation thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI) (a) to (c) The process for land acquisition for National Highway (NH) projects are governed as per NH Act, 1956 and compensation is determined as per provisions of Right to Fair Compensation andTransparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013, as made applicable by Government. The acquisition of land for National Highway projects is a continuous process and the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA), notified under Section 3(a) of NH Act, 1956, is responsible for the payment of compensation. Further, there remains a time lag between award and disbursement, due to various reasons including disputes in ownership of the land, discrepancy in revenue records, unwillingness of the beneficiary to receive the disbursement/payment due to disputes on compensation etc. The State wise details of land acquired under Bharatmala Pariyojana during last 05 years by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are annexed. (d) Currently, as per the available data, 85 under construction National Highways (NHs) projects including projects under Bharatmala Pariyojana are delayed by more than three years, attributable to various issues such as, bottlenecks relating to land acquisition, statutory clearances / permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law & order issues, financial crunch affecting implementation capacity of concessionaire / contractor, poor performance of contractor / concessionaire, and Force Majeure events such as Covid-19 pandemic, Change of Law, etc. The Government has undertaken various initiatives to prevent recurrence of delays and cost escalations. These include streamlining and expediting land acquisition and compensation using “BhoomiRashi” portal integrated with Public Finance Management System (PFMS) and GIS-based Land Acquisition Plan, revamping “Parivesh” Portal, to facilitate faster forest and environmental clearances, enabling online approval of General Arrangement of Drawings (GAD) of Road Over Bridge/ Road Under Bridge (ROB/ RUB), and leveraging the mechanism of review and resolution of bottlenecks / hindrances in ongoing projects, in active collaboration with the State Governments and other stakeholders. Government has also launched a web portal for Railway related clearances with defined timelines for various approvals.The Government has put in place a strong framework using multiple mechanisms for monitoring project progress and contractor inefficiencies. Regular review meetings are conducted at various levels with stakeholders to assess project progress, and critical projects, such as those delayed by more than three years or pending for award/ appointment. Cost escalation is not incurred in all delayed projects. If delay is not attributable to the Contractor, escalation is paid as per contract conditions, which may or may not result in additional cost, depending upon final value of price escalation determined on actual completion of project. If delay is attributable to the Contractor, damages are imposed and there is no additional cost due to delay. Many State Governments conduct coordination meetings led by the Chief Secretary to resolve issues affecting project execution. Projects where issues remain unresolved are escalated for further review through the Project Monitoring Group. As a result of the above, no. of projects delayed by more than 3 years has come down to 85 in February 2026. The optimal alignment for a new project is approved by an Empowered Committee keeping in view the viability of the project after taking into consideration various factors such as the cost of the land, the time period for acquisition etc.ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 6339 ANSWERED ON 02ND APRIL, 2026 ASKED BY SHRI KARTI P CHIDAMBARAM REGARDING „COMPENSATION FOR LAND ACQUISITION UNDER BHARATMALA PARIYOJANA‟. State Wise Details of Land Acquisition for Project including under Bharatmala Pariyojana by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) during last 5 years (2021-2026) Acquired land during Last 05 Years S. No. State (Hectare) 1 ANDHRA PRADESH 5033.20 2 ASSAM 674.66 3 BIHAR 5274.88 4 CHHATTISGARH 976.45 5 DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI 2.36 6 DELHI 16.05 7 GUJARAT 2442.12 8 HARYANA 1832.60 9 HIMACHAL PRADESH 510.39 10 JAMMU & KASHMIR 632.37 11 JHARKHAND 4482.28 12 KARNATAKA 6292.26 13 KERALA 781.95 14 MADHYA PRADESH 6634.87 15 MAHARASHTRA 4779.82 16 MEGHALAYA 2.85 17 ODISHA 2602.28 18 PONDICHERRY 8.82 19 PUNJAB 5483.34 20 RAJASTHAN 1799.60 21 TAMIL NADU 1058.58 22 TELANGANA 4796.16 23 UTTAR PRADESH 7098.43 24 UTTARAKHAND 606.86 25 WEST BENGAL 2274.86 TOTAL 66098.03 *****