Gadkari invites Oppn to open debate on land bill

In his letter to Opposition leaders, he termed the bill 'pro-farmer'

Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday asked Opposition leaders to support the land Bill. The minister, in a letter to opposition party leaders, termed the Bill “pro-farmer” and invited them to have an open debate over the issue.

Gadkari said the government was willing to debate all aspects of the Bill. He said Opposition’s reservations on the Bill as also the ordinance that the government brought were misplaced. He said the ordinance increased the compensation to land owners four times. He claimed as much as Rs 2,000 crore have been paid by the highways and power ministries to those whose lands have been acquired since the ordinance was promulgated.

The contentious Bill currently faces the Rajya Sabha hurdle, where the government is in a minority. The Opposition parties do not want any tinkering with the land Act 2013 and submitted a memorandum to the President earlier this week.  

On March 11, the Lok Sabha passed the Bill, along with nine government-supported amendments that helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) get some of its allies like the Shiromani Akali Dal on board.

Gadkari’s call for a public debate comes days before the Budget session of Parliament breaks for a month-long recess from March 21. The land ordinance lapses on April 5 and the government is mulling re-promulgating the Bill by proroguing one of the two Houses.

Gadkari said the Congress and other parties should not play politics on the land Bill and become a roadblock in the nation’s development. He said the new Bill hasn’t changed compensation and rehabilitation provisions. He said the United Progressive Alliance government’s land Act had kept 13 laws outside the purview of the consent clause and social impact but these have been included in the Bill moved by the NDA government.

The minister has written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, activist Anna Hazare, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and  Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s Prakash Karat, etc.