The Congress party said that the proposed land acquisition Bill of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is not acceptable under any condition.
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh addressing mediapersons on Monday, said, “The BJP Government at the Centre has changed the basics of the land Acquisition Bill and that is not acceptable to us in any condition.”
Ramesh said that earlier if the acquired land was not used in five years of acquisition then the doors were open for its return, but this provision has been completely abolished in the current bill, while, in order to extend benefits to the builder’s provision of acquiring one kilometer land on both sides of the industrial corridors has been kept. As per the law of 2013, it was necessary to get consent of 70 to 80 per cent of farmers for acquiring land for any project, but this provision has also been removed, he added.
He said that the social impact assessment system has also been removed. As per the provisions of 2013 law, four-fold compensation for the land acquired after freedom of the country was to be paid, but in the new amendment, provision has been made that compensation would be given at the rate that was existing on time of acquisition, he added.
The senior Congress leader while condemning the efforts made by Prime Minister to misguide people about 2013 law, said, “As per the section 40 of land Acquisition law 2013, there is no need for any sort permission for acquiring land for any type of defence project. As per section 6, rebate has been given in the social impact assessment system for any sort of Government irrigation project. There was no need to take any permission for any government project like school and hospitals. It was compulsory to provide job to one person of the affected family and there were provisions of two-fold compensation for the urban and four-fold compensation for the rural land acquisition, he added.
Ramesh that we sent the 2013 bill to the standing committee of the parliament before presenting it in the parliament, the current lok Sabha speaker and BJP MP Sumitra Mahajan was the chairman of that standing committee, we demand that the Government of India to pass the land Acquisition Act 2013 without any change.