Land Acquisition Bill in next session, assures PM

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday assured a delegation of Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh, including Rahul Gandhi, that the government will make efforts to bring the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill in the next session of Parliament.

The delegation, which included farmers whose lands have been notified for acquisition for the Yamuna Expressway, told the Prime Minister that the present land acquisition act should be modified, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters after the meeting.

Singh said that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati's government in Uttar Pradesh was misusing the emergency provisions of the land acquisition act.

"If this continues, 20-25 percent of land in Uttar Pradesh will be acquired by the government," he said.

Singh, who is Congress general secretary incharge of Uttar Pradesh, said that the Uttar Pradesh government was "forcing one-sided agreements on farmers."

He said that about 10 km area on both sides of Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway had been notified by the government for acquisition.

Referring to the demand of farmers for land compensation on the pattern of rates paid in Greater Noida, he said "state government was taking five times more money under the table than the amount of compensation paid to farmers."

He said that land acquisition Act should be amended and Haryana's rehabilitation policy which has provisions for acquisition of land at market rates and an annuity for 33 years, should be sent to all states as a model legislation.

Digvijay Singh alleged that the Mayawati government had no regard for poor people whose livelihood depended on agricultural land.

Asked about the assurance from the Prime Minister, Singh said he had assured that the bills will be brought in the Parliament at the earliest.

On Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's opposition to amendments in land acquisition Act, Singh said that the issue can be sorted out through discussions.

Chaudhary Manvir Singh Tevatia, a farmer from Bulandshahr, who was part of the delegation, told mediapersons that the Prime Minister had told them that the amended land policy will be brought in the next session of parliament so that exploitation of farmers stops.

The UP Congress leaders including state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Koshi later met party president Sonia Gandhi to "thank her for her intervention on the land acquisition bill."

Singh has been apprising the party president of the developments in UP following the farmers' agitation for higher land compensation.