Union minister Nitin Gadkari to meet farmers on land Bill
Modi government is planning to seek the opinion of farmers across the country
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-05-30 07:09 GMT
Hyderabad: The Modi government battling the Congress over passage of the Land Acquisition Bill is planning to seek the opinion of farmers across the country and make necessary amendments if needed. Union minister for road, transport, highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari will be visiting Telangana on June 1 in this regard.
Sources told this newspaper that Mr Gadkari may visit Nizamabad district where he would interact with farmers, ascertain their problems, explain the Centre’s land acquisition policy and seek their opinion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said any amendments in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill 2015 and Acquisition Bill in the interest of farmers, poor, village and nation would be accepted. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015 which seeks to amend the Act of 2013 has come under fire from Opposition, especially the Congress which accused the BJP of bringing in the act for corporates.
BJP denies the allegation. A BJP leader said besides Mr Gadkari several other Union ministers are also travelling across India to elicit farmers views directly, explain Central government proposals and seek their suggestions. “The idea is to know whether the farmers are aware of the content of the Bill, want changes, the compensation they want to have and any other suggestion,” he added.
The NDA government referred the bill to the Joint Committee of Parliament headed by S. S. Ahluwalia to go into provisions of the controversial bill. The Congress and Left parties targeted the Narendra Modi government and labelled the bill as ‘anti-farmer’ and "pro-corporate".
The Centre, which had promulgated ordinance twice since Dec. Last year, agreed to refer the bill to the joint committee following Opposition protests. Several Union Ministers have also descended on Hyderabad to submit the Modi government’s one year report card including M. Venkaiah Naidu, Bandaru Dattatreya, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir and more are expected soon.