Amid a row over the land bill, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu today said infrastructure development would suffer unless adequate land is made available for such projects and government is trying to address the issue.
"... If you actually want airports, seaports and roads then we definitely have to find land and therefore land is a very important issue that needs to be properly addressed," Prabhu said here at a function.
His comments come at a time when the government is facing stiff opposition on the land acquisition bill, which is stuck in the Rajya Sabha.
"One of the important issues underlying any infrastructure creation in India is an issue related to land. If you can build airports in air then we don't need land ...," the minister said.
Unlike in China, he said in India most of the land is owned by farmers and others.
"Ownership of land is hardly with the state so how do you create public infrastructure? ... So this is one of the challenges we are facing, and we are trying to work on that because these are in larger interest of the country to remove poverty, to bring more prosperity to rural areas," he added.
The minister said that to eradicate poverty, infrastructure is required and "infrastructure needs land".
"So I think, that is something we have to fight and this is an important issue that we really need to keep in mind".
The government in December last year issued an Ordinance to ease rules for acquisition of land for industries and other projects. This Ordinance, as per rules, has to be converted into an Act within 6 weeks of convening of next Parliament session.
The Budget session of Parliament began on February 23 and accordingly the land Ordinance has to be converted into an Act before April 5, failing which it will lapse.
The option of re-promulgating the Ordinance cannot be exercised as Parliament is still in session and it has only broken for a recess for reconvening on April 20. When the House is in session, the Ordinance cannot be reissued and to do so Parliament has to first be prorogued.
When asked about steps to generate confidence in the private sector and eradicate corruption, Prabhu said that implementation of transparent policies would help in containing corruption.
Citing example of coal mine auction, he said: "All natural resources will be auctioned in the country. This has brought in lots of transparency. No body is questioning the process".
