AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Friday defended her party supporting the Land Acquisition Bill in Parliament, saying the party had taken into account the amendments introduced by the Narendra Modi government to safeguard public interest while voting in favour of it.
In a statement here, she said the party supported the Bill mainly because it conferred on State governments adequate power to decide on grant of exemption for certain kinds of land acquisition from the provisions relating to social impact assessment and food security.
Moreover, it limited acquisition of land for industrial corridors to within one km on either side of designated railway line or road and limited the extent of acquisition to minimum requirement. Other favourable provisions include creation of a database of uncultivated land and compensation by way of government job for at least one member of the affected families, she said.
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Further, the provision granting exemption for private educational institutions and hospitals had been dropped. “This amendment was proposed by the AIADMK and accepted by the Centre,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said.
As these amendments were only in the interests of the public, the AIADMK supported the Bill in the Lok Sabha, she clarified. The AIADMK worked solely on the principle that it would not allow measures that were detrimental to the people of Tamil Nadu. It was on this basis that it had opposed the foreign direct investment in retail and testing of genetically modified crops in the State even though the Centre was in favour of these measures.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said she considered that the present Bill had been brought in by the Narendra Modi government only because it thought States to be equal partners in development and was looking to devolve more powers to the States.
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Rejecting criticism that the AIADMK had supported the Bill with an ulterior motive, she charged DMK president M. Karunanidhi with supporting FDI in retail when it came up in Parliament and the Food Security Act, which she said was detrimental to the interests of Tamil Nadu.