Land acquisition Bill deferred

The Land Acquisition Bill was today deferred, as it was 15th on the Cabinet’s agenda. It was circulated at 3.30 pm, while the Cabinet meeting started at 4.30 pm, and ministers were turning restive when it wasn’t taken up till 6.00 pm. Sources in the rural development ministry dismissed a suggestion that it was deferred because there was lack of consensus in the Cabinet. That the Trinamool Congress does not favour the Bill is well known. “We object to the state being involved in acquiring land and the forcible evacuation of people,” Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay had said earlier. The rural development ministry argues state governments are free not to be involved in acquiring land for private companies. It is almost certain the Bill will not make it in this session of Parliament.