Opposition should open its mind to land bill: BJP

With the land bill facing stiff resistance from its rivals, BJP today asked the parties opposing it to "open up their mind", saying the amendments brought by it are a "dream come true" for ordinary citizens as it will push rural growth and create jobs.
"If the opponents of the changes can open up their minds a little further, large-scale irrigation projects, cooperative and industrial farming can also be initiated through land acquisitions, giving a new lease of life to the agricultural activities of small and marginal farmers.
"It's not land acquisition, it is land acquisition for development," party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said.

In a statement, she said the amendments proposed by the government to Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act have kept all three main tenets of this Act intact and in fact enhanced them further.
"For an ordinary citizen, the amendment Bill would be like a dream come true. We have long been complaining about the rigidity and snail's pace involved in the past government's bureaucracy.
"The people's grievances over decades have now been heard and the government is removing itself from places where procedures need not be choked by its presence and is retaining its role only in the form of facilitation," she said.

Noting that the "choke" of the Social Impact Assessment is being removed only for special projects, she said facilitation in compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement of the people is being focussed on with greater care.
Another point, said Lekhi, that detractors fail to understand is that when the government wants to acquire land for affordable housing and industrial corridors, the ultimate beneficiaries are the inhabitants of that area itself.