Cabinet has already approved the Bill.
Union Rural Development Minister C P Joshi today said the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, certain provisions of which were earlier opposed by Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, was ready to go to Parliament any time. He told reporters here that the Cabinet had already approved the Bill and now the introduction of the Bill in Parliament had to be addressed by the parliamentary affairs ministry.
The minister did not comment whether the content of the Bill had been changed to accommodate the views of the Trinamool Congress. Joshi, who presented the quarterly report of his ministry’s performance, however, did not say when the Cabinet approved the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2007.
The Trinamool Congress chief, whose party is the second largest constituent of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), had almost walked out of a Cabinet meeting raising serious objections to the Bill.
Banerjee had opposed that provision in the Bill which provides for private developers to acquire 70 per cent of land for an industrial project, directly from farmers and land owners. The remaining 30 per cent is to be acquired by the state government concerned. Joshi, did not comment on whether the provisions opposed by Banerjee were part of the Bill approved by the Cabinet. The Medha Patkar-led National Alliance of People’s Movement, which has been opposing the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill and the Relief and Rehabilitation Bill, said it was totally in the dark as to when the Cabinet approved the Bill.
NAPM activists said the only way the Bill could be brought in Parliament without displeasing Banerjee could be after the Assembly elections in West Bengal in 2011.
