In the second consecutive extraordinary session of Telangana legislature held on a Sunday, the amended State land Acquisition Bill was passed by both the Houses.
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition , Rehabilitation and Resettlement (TS Amendment) Bill was introduced in the State Assembly and it was discussed and passed in the absence of the members of Opposition BJP and Telugu Desam Party.
The emergency session of the legislature had to be convened by the Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary after the Union Government returned the Bill earlier passed by the legislature suggesting three amendments. One of the amendment was a sentence that the District Collectors concerned will negotiate with the farmers for fixing the price for the acquired land. The State land Acquisition Bill was in addition to the Central Government’s law.
The Bill was introduced in the Assembly by the deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister Mahmood Ali and it was passed by the House in mere ten minutes amid opposition from Congress benches. Congress members demanded discussion on the problems of the chilly growers but the Speaker said that the emergency session was confined only to discuss the amendment Bill.
The main Opposition Congress strongly opposed the amendment Bill saying the TRS Government was planning to forcibly acquire the lands from the farmers through this legislation.
The members of the two parties were earlier suspended from the Assembly for the duration of the Budget Session and the Government took the stand that the emergency session held on Sunday was also part of the Budget Session. While two Telugu Desam members were suspended for disrupting the proceedings during the Governor’s address on the first day of the session, five BJP members including the floor leader G Kishan Reddy were suspended during an earlier emergency session which considered and passed the Telangana Reservation Bill 2017.
The BJP members took the issue of their suspension to the State Governor ESl Narasimhan. MlAs led by the BJP State president and MlA K lakshman met the Governor at Raj Bhavan and demanded that their rights should be protected.
He demanded to know why his party MlAs were not invited to the Business Advisory Committee meeting and were not allowed to attend the emergency session of the Assembly.
Congress took strong objection to the passage of the land Acquisition Bill in the State legislative Council in mere three minutes.
“The Government has acted in a unilateral way to bulldoze the legislation on the basis of its majority. This shows that the ruling party was afraid of a discussion on the Bill,” said Mohammed Ali Shabbir, leader of Opposition in the State legislative Council.
Minister of irrigation T Harish Rao charged the Congress party with provoking farmers to create hurdles in the way of completing the irrigation projects.