Left to oppose 'lame' land bill

The Left and civil society will resist the Land Acquisition Bill which is likely to be tabled in Parliament next week.

They have expressed opposition to various provisions of the bill. “The bill cleared by the Cabinet amending the Land Acquisition Act’s legacy has left many basic issues of conflict over forcible land acquisition unresolved,” said Medha Patkar, PUCL activist Sanjay Parikh and social activist Madhuresh at a press conference.

They alleged that the recommendations by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development have been bypassed, leaving the new bill with serious flaws.

“It would compel farmers and others dependent on land and those affected by the projects to continue with their ongoing resistance,” they said.

“In fact, excluding government projects and all infrastructure projects has left the bill a lame one, not applicable to land acquisition in many conflict-ridden projects,” they argued.

“It is also unacceptable that out of the 16 different Acts under which there are provisions for forcible land acquisition, only three Acts are brought under the purview of the new Bill- SEZ Act, Defence Act and Cantonment Act against the standing committee’s recommendations,” they said.