Defending his party’s support to the Centre over the land Bill in Parliament, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Monday said it was not against the welfare of farmers and that the AIADMK would not back any project that affected farmers.
During a debate in the Assembly, Mr. Panneerselvam said that the objections raised by the AIADMK on certain concessions made to private educational institutions and hospitals in the original draft were accepted and the Bill was amended accordingly.
CPI (M) member K. Balakrishnan sought to know why the AIADMK, which opposed the Bill during the Congress regime, supported it under the Narendra Modi government.
Pointing out that 13 Central Acts were exempted from the provisions of the Bill when the Congress introduced it, he said it was prepared by the National Advisory Committee and eventually introduced by the UPA government.
Though the Bill brought by the Congress looked pro-farmer, the Chief Minister said it was against farmers’ interests and referred to the GAIL project. The GAIL project was to be implemented under Petroleum and Minerals Pipeline (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962 - one of the 13 exempted Acts.
As land was part of the State list, his party had raised objections to the Bill brought by the Congress, Mr. Panneerselvam said, adding that the UPA could have let the States formulate their own Bills. The Chief Minister further hit out at DMK president M. Karunanidhi for taking up the issue as several acres of land were transferred to industries in the State between 2001 and 2006. He also listed out two instances when land was transferred to private parties during the DMK regime.
