BIDA Greenfield Industrial City: Land Acquisition

Acquisition model

BIDA is acquiring land under statutory provisions rather than a purely voluntary land-pooling scheme. BIDA has so far acquired a total of 25,706 acres of land, with compensation provided to landowners at transparent rates in accordance with the provisions of the Act, 2013. That is the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013, which governs award-based acquisition and rehabilitation entitlements across India.

Reporting on the acquisition mix shows a combination of private-owner purchase and transfer of already-government-held land: the project was set to cover a total area of 35,300 acres, with land acquisition at one point totalling 17,840 acres, of which the acquired land included 12,700 acres from private owners and 5,140 acres from various government departments.

To manage the farmer-facing side of the process, the state government said BIDA has developed a special software, which makes the land acquisition process — from farmer consent to payment — digital, while a call centre for the farmers will also be established soon. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also directed that the land acquisition be completed within six months, and that BIDA is adequately manned with the necessary manpower, a target set in November 2025.

Compensation rates

No single, uniform rupees-per-acre or per-hectare compensation figure for BIDA land has been published in the reporting reviewed for this page. Official statements describe the rate-setting approach only in general terms — compensation is being provided to landowners at transparent rates in accordance with the provisions of the Act, 2013 — without disclosing a fixed schedule of rates by village or land category.

Local reporting from Jhansi indicates that rate-setting has been a point of contention: farmers were reported to be pressing for higher payouts linked to the circle rate, prompting the authority to route rate decisions through a dedicated committee rather than a single flat figure. This suggests compensation is being calibrated village-by-village rather than applied uniformly across the 33-village footprint.

Because BIDA has not published a confirmed per-acre or per-hectare rate as of this writing, this page will be updated once an official, sourced figure is confirmed.

Villages and district coverage

The Greenfield Industrial City footprint sits entirely within one district. The BIDA Master Plan 2045 covers 253.33 km² (62,599.20 acres) across 33 villages in Jhansi tehsil — a total planning area that is distinct from the 56,662 acres approved for phased land acquisition and development. A vast chunk of the land acquired so far has also been acquired in Jhansi district, the most prominent hub of Bundelkhand.

Within that footprint, BIDA's own CEO has named the villages forming the project's first activation zone: approximately 2,500 acres around Dagarwaha, Rajapur and Bamer villages would form the first activation area, combining industrial plots with housing, education and other civic facilities. Separate reporting on a land-records fraud case also names several other villages where BIDA holds land, including Dagarwah, Bajna, Bemer, Imlia, Bachhauni, Baidora, Basai, Parasai and Amarpur, confirming these as part of the acquired footprint.

Budget allocated

Funding for land purchase was set out early in the project's life. A total of Rs 8,000 crore has been earmarked for land acquisition, out of which about Rs 5,000 crore will be spent on BIDA. Separately, the estimated value of the first-phase land itself was put at over Rs 6,000 crore: in the first phase of development, 35,000 acres of land worth more than Rs 6,000 crore, spanning 33 revenue villages in the Jhansi district, was to be acquired.

Disputes and farmer concerns

The project has not been free of friction over compensation and benefit-sharing. The project has also drawn concerns over land acquisition, compensation and the distribution of its eventual benefits. Opposition politicians have argued that compensation in Bundelkhand is lower than in western Uttar Pradesh and have sought stronger guarantees that affected residents will share in employment and development gains.

In response to concerns about villages being absorbed into an industrial zone, the environmental-clearance framework builds in commitments to existing residents: local rural habitation areas will be integrated with the BIDA city and provided with facilities such as modern parks, health centres, educational institutions and skill development centres.

Separately, a land-records integrity issue surfaced in Jhansi in late 2025, unrelated to compensation negotiation but affecting confidence in BIDA land data: approximately Rs 4.26 crore was siphoned off using fake entries related to BIDA land spanning around 67 acres, with the majority of fraudulent cases reported in villages under BIDA including Dagarwah and Bajna.

Current stage (as of June 2026)

The project has cleared a major regulatory hurdle while acquisition continues in parallel. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, officially granted environmental clearance to the 'Greenfield Industrial City (BIDA Master Plan-2045)' project of BIDA, Jhansi in June 2026. Ahead of that, the draft Master Plan 2045 was released for public objections and suggestions on 11 April 2025, followed by draft Building Regulations 2045 on 26 April 2025, and by October 2025 the master plan had received BIDA board approval while sector and zonal planning continued.

On acquisition progress specifically: as of the most recent reporting, acquisition of 24,201 acres amounted to more than 68 per cent of the 35,298 acres targeted in the first phase, with BIDA planning to acquire 56,662 acres across 33 villages in two phases and the remaining 21,364 acres slated for the second phase, while a separate, slightly later figure put total land acquired at 25,706 acres. This compares with a November 2025 checkpoint when the state government had approved acquisition of 56,600 acres, of which about 22,000 acres — nearly 40 per cent — had been acquired by BIDA, and an even earlier May 2025 figure of 17,840 acres acquired. The trend shows steady but incremental progress rather than a completed acquisition.