AAP Odisha protests amendments to Land Acquisition Act

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 5:

AAP Odisha today protested against the Land Acquisition Ordinance by Central government calling it ‘unconstitutional, undemocratic, pro-corporate and anti-people’. The party also submitted a memorandum to Khurda collectorate for the President.

Speaking on the occasion Bharadwaj Misha, Secretary, AAP Odisha said, “The ruling BJP unambiguously supported the 2013 amendments in Parliament while being in opposition. Now it has taken a U-Turn on its own commitment. The previous 2013 Act was framed after consulting all stake holders over a period of seven years and after going through two Parliamentary Standing committees (2007 & 2009), both headed by senior BJP leaders, Kalyan Singh and Smt. SumitraMahajan. We therefore fail to understand the rationale behind the amendments and feel that this has been pushed by the corporates and the interest of the poor has been ignored as a result.”

“We also fail to understand what was the emergency that forced the NDA government to take the Ordinance route,” he said.

Aam Aadmi Party stronglyopposed the following amendments in particular.

• The Ordinance amending the Land Acquisition Act 2013 was introduced before the law has been actually implemented. The effects of the 2013 Act were not even evaluated before calling for an urgent change. The 2013 amendment was done to give justice to farmers where their land was forcibly acquired or the land was not utilised for the intended purpose or adequate compensation not paid.

• Section 105 on Consent and Social Impact Audit (SIA) clause excludes the need for a Social Impact Audit for Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) and Private Projects. It dilutes the requirement that unused acquired land be returned to the original owners, makes it tougher to prosecute defaulting civil servants, reduces the scope for the retrospective clause and expands the definition of permissible infrastructure.This is clearly drafted to give some corporates their promise land by the Govt. and is therefore anti-people and anti-farmers.

• Section 24 on Retrospective Application of the new Act ignores provisions for rehabilitation and resettlemen. It is rather focused on compliance and enforcement. More than 10 crore people have been displaced due to various projects since India’s independence. This Ordinance completely ignores their rights, needs and impact on their lives as a result of the changes.

• Food Security considerations have also been excluded from this amendment. The limitations that existed on acquisition of agricultural or multi-crop land have now been taken out. So, any land can be acquired without restrictions even if it affects our national or regional Food Security.

• This amendment will potentially take out the powers from the hands of the Gram Sabhas and hand over more liberty to some land mafias and greedy corporates.

• In India, a huge segment of farmers are not land owners. A piece of land has an interest from many sections workers, share croppers – other than the land owners. Therefore the Govt.’s claim that the decision is not anti farmer since they are not touching the monetary compensation, is a deliberate false claim to deceive all those who make a living from a piece of land but don’t own it.

Aam Aadmi Party will distribute memorandums to every District Collector, all across Odisha and the entire country. We will endeavour to make the public aware of the hidden agenda and clauses in this amendment that would harm the public and continue its protest until a more acceptable Act is brought back that provides adequate protection to all classes of people affected by this Act and a stronger socioeconomic, environmental and legislative framework is introduced to safeguard the interest of the affected section of the society.