By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 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.
Earlier, interacting with reporters before the meeting with Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi said land acquisition was “a big and important issue”.
Gandhi had paid a surprise visit Saturday to Tappal village in Aligarh district, the epicentre of farmers’ protests, and assured them that he would raise their concerns at appropriate forums.
Farmers have been protesting at Tappal for the last three weeks demanding a substantial enhancement in the compensation offered to them for their lands acquired to build the 165-km Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway.
Two farmers and a police constable were killed when police opened fire on protesting farmers in the area Aug 14.
“What happened in Aligarh is very unfair,” Gandhi said.
The meeting of the Congress leaders came a day ahead of the proposed march to parliament by the Rashtriya Lok Dal and some other political parties in support of the farmers’ demands and early passage of the land acquisition amendment bill.
The expressway, which is expected to reduce the driving time between New Delhi and Agra to about 90 minutes, will pass through Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Aligarh, Mahamaya Nagar (Hathras) and Mathura districts. It involves acquisition of land in 115 villages.
The compensation amount was increased from Rs.449 per square metre to Rs.570 per square metre by the state government after the farmers launched their protest.
But the farmers refused to withdraw their agitation and demanded compensation at the rate of Rs.880 per square metre that was paid in Greater Noida.
The Relief and Rehabilitation Bill 2009 and Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, which were passed by the Lok Sabha in February 2009, lapsed as the term of the House came to an end.
The bills have faced resistance from the Trinamool Congress, an ally of the Congress in the United Progressive Alliance government.