Necessity of an explicit land use policy was emphasised upon by participants of the round table meeting conducted on the ‘Land Acquisition Amendment Bill 2015 - Maintaining right balance between individual interests and social development’ by the NGO, Social Cause, here on Saturday.
Employment of land for various purposes is not bound by rules, and hence land use is easily converted to purposes other than it is initially earmarked for after payment of certain fee, pointed out M. Sunil Kumar of Landesa Rural Development Institute. He said it is necessary for the government to come up with definitive land use policy, before it goes ahead to promulgate the ordinance, he said.
Congress leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy too seconded the opinion and said land use classification should be clear.
Mr. Reddy questioned the purpose of irrigation projects and development of command area, if the State is entitled to take away even the multi-crop land. The only pretext for the NDA government to push the ordinance is a “brutal majority”, he said.
Mr. Sunil Kumar wondered if there is any legislation to give land, and pointed out that about 40 per cent of the compensation is spent for legal costs by the oustees of the land acquisition. He questioned the need for amendments even before the 2013 Act is tested on ground.
TPCC spokesperson Sravan Dasoju too aired similar views and added that tenure should be fixed for the land allotments to private users. Social impact assessment, which was sought to be done away with by the amended ordinance, is absolutely necessary to evaluate the loss for artisanal communities dependent on agriculture.
However, Member of Bihar Land Tribunal K.P. Ramaiah, opined that consent of people is an impossible task, and that oustees demand impossible amounts of compensation. Impact assessment too is not possible, he said.
Balasubrahmanyam Kamarsu, secretary, BJP Parliamentary Office, said Congress Chief Ministers had demanded most of the proposed amendments, and so did the Revenue Ministers during a recent national-level conference.
