The minister also warned against treating the environmental clearance from his ministry “as a licence to evict people from their homes.”
He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of an international summit on Microfinance and Inclusive Development organised by the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty of the Andhra Pradesh government, International Network of Alternative Financial Institutions and the National Rural Livelihood Mission at the MCR HRD Institute here.
Replying a query on the proposed demonstration by social activist Medha Patkar in front of Parliament against the Land Acquisition Bill, the minister said: “Agitation is a democratic right and everyone has the right to demonstrate peacefully. I hope that there will be no untoward incident.”
He expressed concern at the illegal sand mining in the Ganga in Uttarakhand.
Published 21 June 2011, 17:20 IST