Centre’s plan to identify surplus land

The Centre’s plan to identify surplus land held by government departments and public sector undertakings with a view to auctioning such land to the private sector, or deploying it for urban renewal projects, is praiseworthy. This appears to be in sync with the Budget promise to encourage public sector firms to divest individual assets and re-invest the proceeds in new projects.

•  A committee has been tasked with creating an inventory of public
  
  landholdings and identifying plots that are not needed for future expansion or strategic purposes, and thus could be alienated for other uses. 
• As past strategic disinvestment cases have shown, valuation of land is a prickly issue that leaves governments susceptible to extreme scrutiny from political peers as well as the auditor. 
• In addition, it can take years to conclude.
• It must also be kept in mind that this exercise is a minor recompense for the larger reform agenda that the government has set aside: amending the land acquisition law. 
• A model tenancy law that the NITI Aayog has mooted as an alternative reform step to allow the leasing of agricultural land, also remains a work in progress. The government needs to put more energy into those solutions for faster economic growth.

(source-The Hindu)