Patkar, team raise concerns against Land Acquisition Bill

The activists under the aegis of National Alliance of People's Movements and Sangharsh claimed that the "positive" position taken by the Standing Committee had been diluted by the Ministry of Rural Development.

The Land Acquisition Bill, rechristened as the Right to Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act, was introduced in Parliament in September last and was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

"We have taken serious note of the fact that the strong position taken by the standing committee on certain critical issues are either diluted or rejected by Rural Development Ministry, which is shocking.

"It should not be called Rural Development Ministry but Rural Destruction Ministry," Patkar told reporters.

Patkar alleged the Rural Ministry has refused the Standing Committee's stand to reject forcible land acquisition for private properties including PPP, justifying this with a provision that consent of 80 per cent project-affected people will be sought before the acquisition.

"British legacy continues regarding the land acquisition bill, but even Britishers did not just give away land to private enterprises. And we are opposed to the 80 per cent population consent because we know how that mechanism works. The numbers are always manipulated," she said.

Patkar and others said they would meet political leaders on August 13 to raise their objections against the bill.

"The government needs to concentrate on land protection act and not land acquisition act. We have been in constant dialogue and negotiation with the government on this issue for years now.

"There are serious shortcomings in the Bill, and these are cause for deep concern. These shortcomings prevent this Bill from being a truly pro-people legislation that will uphold social and economic justice," she said.