Congress Land Acquisition protest turns violent in Chandigarh

The march against the Land Acquisition Bill by Congress workers here on Tuesday took a violent turn after the protestors and the police clashed.

The police had to resort to the use of water cannons to stop the protestors, who were attempting to uproot the barriers erected to contain them. One police constable was also injured in the incident.

One of the protestors, Partap Singh Bajwa, said that the farmers of Punjab will never forgive Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre for promulgating the Land Acquisition Bill.

"We challenge Prime Minister Modi and Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal. The Congress party will not let them take even an inch of the land belonging to farmers anywhere in India. Congress and farmers of Punjab will never forgive them for this," Bajwa said.

Earlier this month, the Lok Sabha passed The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 amid a walkout byopposition parties even as the government moved nine amendments to address the concerns raised by farmers.

The proposed legislation removes the need for obtaining consent of land-owners and carrying out social impact assessment (SIA) for acquiring land under certain categories-precisely the provisions which had raised the heckles of critics.

The bill faces a tough call in the Rajya Sabha where the government is in minority.

The bill will replace an ordinance promulgated by the government in December last year which amended the earlier law passed by the Congress-led UPA regime in 2013.