With a raging debate on the land Acquisition Bill, the Akali Dal on Tuesday for the first time made its stand clear saying it was opposed to Government acquiring land for private entities. Akali Dal, an ally of the BJP and a part of the NDA, for the first time came out openly against certain provisions of the Bill. It said the land Acquisition Act of 2013 and this Bill lack fool proof safeguards for compensating the farmers with adequate actual market value of the land to be acquired.
The core committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) met in New Delhi Tuesday afternoon to formulate the party’s response to the proposed Bill on land acquisition which is to come before the Parliament this week.
The core committee in its emergency meeting chaired by SAD president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, in the presence of its patron and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, cleared party’s stand on the proposed land Acquisition Bill and passed a resolution in which the SAD decided to oppose any land acquisition without the express consent of a majority of the farmers or land owners whose land is to be acquired.
The party also decided that the land should only be acquired for public purpose and the Government should not get into acquisition for private entities. The party’s floor strategy on the Bill would be decided by the Members of the SAD Parliamentary Board.
The resolution also said that where land is acquired, farmers should be given the option of accepting compensation on market rates plus displacement allowance. The farmers should not be denied the right to approach court for redress of grievance.
Union Cabinet Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Secretary General of SAD Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Rajya Sabha MPs Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Naresh Gujral, lok Sabha MPs Prem Singh Chandumajra and Sher Singh Ghubaya also attended the meeting.
From Punjab several suggestions were also made for the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2015..
It said that in the years to come, more land in the country will have to be brought under agriculture to prevent excessive exploitation of certain regions like Punjab. This means that any acquisition of land must keep in mind the future needs of the country on the food security front. Praising its policy, the State Government said Punjab has been following a policy under which land is acquired through a process of mutual consultation and only after ensuring adequate compensation on market terms to the dispossessed owners. Consequently, under this policy, the process of acquisition has always been smooth and hassle free. The policy is thus a time-tested success story.
The core committee said, “The land Acquisition Act of 2013 and this Bill lack fool proof safeguards for compensating the farmers with adequate actual market value of the land to be acquired”. It said Punjab has a land acquisition policy in place which ensures that no land is acquired forcibly.
Raising concern, it said when land is acquired, the interests of the farmers and owners whose land is acquired are paramount and are protected by giving them an option of market rate plus displacement allowance or becoming partners in the proposed project through a land pooling policy.
“The first option involves the fixation of land price in accordance with the prevailing market price plus a displacement allowance.” the Akali Dal said. The party said Multi-cropped land is acquired only as a last resort in Punjab and that should also be a part of the new policy and added, propose that the Punjab land Acquisition Policy should be followed while finalizing a national policy on the subject”.
In addition, the party wants that land should be acquired by the Government only for public purposes, Government should not get into acquisition for private entities, there should be no acquisition without the consent of the farmers/ landowners whose land is to be acquired.
It wants that the land owner must be given the option of either accepting adequate monetary compensation as per the prevailing market value of the land acquired plus displacement allowance or becoming a shareholder in the proposed project on the land in question through the land Pooling Policy as followed in Punjab.
It also wanted the States should be given free hand for fixing market price of the land to be acquired and that price should be accepted for all acquisitions, regardless of whether these are done for the State Government or for the Central Government.