BJP panel suggests bringing back consent clause in Land Bill
28 March 2015 5:02 AM IST
As per the Land Acquisition Act 2013, there is a clause for mandatory consent from at least 70 per cent of land owners for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies. But the Amendment Bill brought from NDA government did away with the consent.
Though the committee has recommended the introduction of consent clause, it comes with a rider — for acquiring infertile land, there’s no need for consent. The recommendation of the committee has been made keeping in mind the possible backlash from the farmer community, which has a sizable vote-share across the country. With important Assembly elections lined-up in the coming months, the party has planned for course correction.
“The committee submitted their report a few days back to the party president, suggesting that consent clause should be made mandatory before acquiring land. If it’s not done then it will lead to a mass protest and could prove disastrous for the party in many ways, including elections in Bihar and West Bengal,” party sources said.
It was learnt that on Wednesday, the report was placed before the Cabinet and the final call on the contentious issues will soon be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he discusses it with colleagues. The other suggestions incorporated in the report include smooth clearance of compensations to the farmers, whose land will be acquired.
In the past, it has been witnessed that farmers had a harrowing time acquiring the compensation amount. In some of the cases, they were even cheated by private players.
“The Kisan committee has suggested that the compensation issues have to be resolved at the district level. The aim is to reduce the lengthy process of compensation to poor farmers,” he said. In the context of small industries, which will be set up or those that are already operational on national highways (one kilometre away from the road), the factory administrations will not be allowed use of the highway close to the unit and they would have to chalk out a parallel road transport system.
When asked if they have to use the highway to transport their goods, party sources said: “They will use the highway but the parallel road should be planned in a way to merge it with the highway away from the unit, so as to not have any adverse impact on traffic.”
On Public-Private Partnership (PPP), the committee has suggested that the “supervision and ownership” should be taken care of by the government to prevent any injustice to farmers. The committee was formed on February 24, after a united opposition including Congress and Trinamool Congress stalled the functioning of both Houses of Parliament over the controversial Bill. A day after the formation of the committee, the government assured that it would “go an extra mile” to prevent any injustice to farmers.
Though the committee has recommended the introduction of consent clause, it comes with a rider — for acquiring infertile land, there’s no need for consent. The recommendation of the committee has been made keeping in mind the possible backlash from the farmer community, which has a sizable vote-share across the country. With important Assembly elections lined-up in the coming months, the party has planned for course correction.
“The committee submitted their report a few days back to the party president, suggesting that consent clause should be made mandatory before acquiring land. If it’s not done then it will lead to a mass protest and could prove disastrous for the party in many ways, including elections in Bihar and West Bengal,” party sources said.
It was learnt that on Wednesday, the report was placed before the Cabinet and the final call on the contentious issues will soon be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he discusses it with colleagues. The other suggestions incorporated in the report include smooth clearance of compensations to the farmers, whose land will be acquired.
In the past, it has been witnessed that farmers had a harrowing time acquiring the compensation amount. In some of the cases, they were even cheated by private players.
“The Kisan committee has suggested that the compensation issues have to be resolved at the district level. The aim is to reduce the lengthy process of compensation to poor farmers,” he said. In the context of small industries, which will be set up or those that are already operational on national highways (one kilometre away from the road), the factory administrations will not be allowed use of the highway close to the unit and they would have to chalk out a parallel road transport system.
When asked if they have to use the highway to transport their goods, party sources said: “They will use the highway but the parallel road should be planned in a way to merge it with the highway away from the unit, so as to not have any adverse impact on traffic.”
On Public-Private Partnership (PPP), the committee has suggested that the “supervision and ownership” should be taken care of by the government to prevent any injustice to farmers. The committee was formed on February 24, after a united opposition including Congress and Trinamool Congress stalled the functioning of both Houses of Parliament over the controversial Bill. A day after the formation of the committee, the government assured that it would “go an extra mile” to prevent any injustice to farmers.
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