The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Monday termed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s two-day Chhattisgarh visit as a complete ‘flop’. “Rahul Gandhi’s visit is a complete flop show and it has only exposed the rivalry in the State unit of the Congress party. Under no condition it is in favour of farmers and the poor and it is only a political exercise,” claimed State Revenue and Higher Education Minister Prem Prakash Pandey.
Reacting over Rahul Gandhi’s remarks over land Acquisition Bill that land of Tribal people and farmers was being snatched, he said that only 12 sections of the Act have been altered by the Central Government in land Acquisition Bill prepared by UPA Government in 2013. “Permission from farmers before acquiring land by any private party was earlier also a must and is now also mandatory,” he noted.
On Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that lands were being taken without the consent of the tribals he said “Rahul may have forgotten that in Chhattisgarh PESA (Panchayats Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act is in effect and without approval of a Tribal person his land cannot be transferred. He informed that during Congress regime from 2001 to 2004 in Chhattisgarh, land compensation was distributed to farmers at the rate of Rs1.17 lakh per acre. Presently, the State Government is providing compensation of Rs6 lakh on barren land, Rs8 lakh on one crop land and Rs10 lakh on multi crop land.