Land acquisition a major issue in infrastructure development: Cabinet Secretary

Land acquisition remained a major issue to resolve in infrastructure development, said Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan while briefing reporters after the 50th meeting of the Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI), a mechanism to review implementation of infrastructure projects, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Friday (January 2, 2026). Mr. Somanathan said the Union government has no plans to change the existing land acquisition policy.

The Cabinet Secretary, secretaries of various Ministries dealing with infrastructure development and the Railway Board’s Chairman said in their presentations to media that land acquisition was one of the major reasons for the pendency of various infrastructure projects across the country. Mr. Somanathan said Pragati reviewed over 3,300 projects worth ₹85 lakh crore. 7,735 issues were raised during its meetings and 7,156 of them were resolved.

Mr. Somanathan said though the government has not calculated the savings due to timely monitoring of the schemes, he said several projects, some started as early as in 1990s, got completed after the Pragati system was launched. Of the 7,156 issues resolved, the Cabinet Secretary said 35% were on land acquisition, 20% were on forest, wildlife and environment issues, 18% were right of use/way, and other projects were delayed due to law and order, construction, power utility approvals and financial issues.

“There is no plan to change the land acquisition policy,” he said when asked if the government plans to change the law in the background of hurdles created by issues in land acquisition to infrastructure projects. “All States, irrespective of the political dispensations, want to complete their projects and all chief secretaries have been very responsive in resolving issues,” he added.

Mr. Somanathan said initially issues are addressed at the Ministry level, while complex and critical issues are escalated through defined institutional mechanisms for higher-level review, culminating at Pragati meetings chaired by the Prime Minister. “The escalation framework ensures coordinated inter-ministerial action, timely decision-making, and focused resolution of implementation bottlenecks in projects of national importance,” he said, while adding that PRAGATI ensured coordination between Central Ministries, coordination between States, Centre and local governments and coordination within the State governments.