On the defensive over the Land Acquisition Bill, Union Minister for Surface Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has said that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre would not acquire even an inch of land to benefit big corporate houses such as Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis, Adanis, etc. The welfare of farmers is utmost to it.
‘False propaganda’
Accusing the Congress of indulging in a false propaganda against the Narendra Modi government, he said the acquisition of land by the Centre was for constructing industrial corridors, roads and other projects. If villages were developed and gram swaraj was ensured they would contain the exodus of people from villages to cities, he said.
‘Farmers suicide’
Addressing a meeting of party activists (Jan Kalyan Parve) here on Monday, the Union Minister attributed the farmers’ suicides in Vidarbha, Telangana and elsewhere in the country to the long misrule of Congress. Urea price increased four times during the UPA rule and it had never made efforts to improve the fertilizer production in the country, he added.
“As soon as our government assumed power it began efforts to increase urea production by launching plants in Odisha and West Bengal. In a few years to come the production would increase and price would come down by 40 per cent”, he said.
Eighty per cent of farmer problems could be addressed easily if plenty of water and power were supplied to them, he said.
Mr. Gadkari, who earlier inaugurated the newly constructed district party office said that Modi government aimed at building ‘Swachh Bharat’ and pollution-free nation by reducing dependency on fossil fuels on which the government was spending Rs. 8 lakh crores every year.
