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Sarkar opposes proposed amendment in Land Bill

By Correspondent

AGARTALA, July 16 - Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has strongly opposed the Union Government�s attempt to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisation, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act-2013.

Speaking at the second meeting of NITI Aayog�s Governing Council in New Delhi on Wednesday, he said the State has got very limited land available for cultivation and the State can�t have the luxury to convert any more agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes and all out efforts have been initiated mainly to make the State self-reliant with limited resources.

�This is all the more necessary in consideration of geographic remoteness and long circuitous connectivity of the State with the mainland of the country�, he said.

Picking holes in the proposed exemption of five categories of land use from prior-informed consent, Sarkar said the amendment bid broadens the scope of acquisition and exempts all the projects larger take-over of land from seeking consent of the affected people.

�We are of the view that Land Acquisition should be based on prior informed consent of affected persons with the least displacement and for a democratically established public purpose�, he pointed out.

The Chief Minister went on, �Consultation and approval from Panchayats and Gram Sabhas for pubic purpose, rehabilitation and resettlement, social impact assessment, etc., must be ensured. There is no exemption from seeking prior-informed consent of the affected people as prescribed in the Principal Act�.

On the exemption from provisions safeguarding food security, Sarkar said multi-cropped, irrigated land also can be acquired without any restrictions. �Food security will be seriously compromised as it will not be possible to easily acquire multi-cropped fertile land as well as productive rain-fed and semi rain-fed land for industrial corridors, infrastructure projects including the PPP projects.

On the expansion of industrial corridors, Sarkar opined, �We are of the view that this will open up vast tracts of agricultural land for potential acquisition. This is only aimed to help the land mafia and real estate speculators. It will displace millions of people and deny them of their main source of livelihood. It will also adversely affect the food security of the nation�, he said.

Under these circumstances, the State can�t afford to support the attempt of the Centre to amend the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act 2013, he added.

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