“I am not at all impressed as it lacks clarity”, said PPSS president Abhaya Sahu.
According to the draft, 80 per cent of the “affected people” would have to consent to any land acquisition. “Why only the affected people and why not the entire population of the area,” asked the PPSS leader adding that while some people get directly affected, many others get hit indirectly.
The PPSS leader said that he personally believes that there should be a blanket ban on the use of all kinds of agricultural land, both government as well as privately owned, for the purpose of industrial development and other non-agriculture activities.
However, in the proposed land acquisition Bill, such a ban exists only for multi-crop and irrigated agricultural land. “Then what about the non-irrigated and single crop agricultural land owned by millions of poor farmers across the country,” Sahu questioned.
The farmers’ leader also said, all land acquisition in different parts of the country should be stopped immediately till the new Bill gets the seal of approval from Parliament.
The PPSS leadership had urged the Orissa government to halt the current land acquisition in Jagatsinghpur district for the Posco project till the new Bill becomes law.
However, the Naveen Patnaik government rejected the request stating there is no certainty that the Bill will be passed by Parliament in the near future. In fact, the Bill may find its way to a select committee.
The ongoing land acquisition process, therefore, cannot be halted for an indefinite period,” a senior state government official said.
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