The introduction of a Bill in the AP Assembly to amend the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, is nothing but an attempt to legalise the ‘forcible acquisition’ of land in the name of land pooling, alleged Human Rights Forum (HRF) State president U.G. Srinivasulu and general secretary K. Sudha.
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, (LA Act, 2013), which was achieved as a result of long-drawn struggles, had recognised rehabilitation as a ‘right of the displaced’ for the first time.
It provided security to people, who were losing their lands for the setting up of industries and other infrastructure projects. The present amendment was intended to dilute the Act, they alleged in a press note on Monday.
The amendment was intended to exclude Social Impact Assessment (SIA) studies even for industrial corridors and public private partnership projects, to allow the acquisition of lands on which multiple crops are grown, providing food security, for these projects in violation of the Act.
They noted that the amendments would deprive displaced persons of their rights apart from causing immense loss to food security. They alleged that the amendment was mainly intended to deceive farmers of the capital and coastal regions into parting with their fertile lands. The HRF leaders demanded withdrawal of the proposed amendment bill.
