Trinamul ‘happy’ with land draft

Calcutta, July 25: Trinamul Congress leaders today said they were “happy” with the Centre’s proposal to leave land takeover for private industry to the discretion of states, as envisaged in the new draft for amending the acquisition law.

“We are happy that the Prime Minister has appreciated our concerns for farmers and given importance to our opinion. Now state governments would have the discretion whether to acquire land for the private sector or not,” party leader and junior Union minister for rural development Sisir Adhikari told  The Telegraph.

“However, our party is yet to fine-tune its stand on the new draft since our leader, Mamata Banerjee, wants industry to purchase 100 per cent land required for their projects,” the minister added.

Bengal chief minister Mamata, who is opposed to any government role in land takeover for the private sector, is yet to approve the new draft.

Adhikari’s comments came a day after rural development minister Jairam Ramesh called a meeting on the draft Land Acquisitions (Amendment) Bill that left open-ended the quantum of land the government can acquire for an industrial project.

Unlike the earlier draft that had proposed 30 per cent takeover by the government after industry acquired 70 per cent for a project, the new draft is said to be silent on the quantum.

Even if the draft had mentioned a formula, the operative word would have been “can”, which would have given states the leeway to take their own decisions.

The new draft left it for governments to decide on the quantum of land to acquire — from zero to 100 per cent — apparently to avoid conflicts with allies like Mamata and also the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council. The NAC wanted the government to acquire the entire land and hand it over to industry.

The new draft also made written consent of at least 80 per cent of landowners mandatory for acquisition of plots for industry. A Trinamul veteran said they would seek to change it to “at least 90 per cent, if not 100 per cent… in view of nation-wide protests against forced takeover”.

Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP and land expert Debabrata Bandopadhyay welcomed the “open-ended approach”. But he pointed out that the proposed land policy of the Mamata government, envisaged by a two-member panel including him, had left no room for government acquisition for private industry.

“Our argument is simple. If you operate in the free market, you can’t expect a restricted land market and government protection,” he said.

However, Bandopadhyay is not against government initiative in procuring land for the private sector if it involves “national interests” like defence and infrastructure development. Mamata, too, is not against land takeover for defence, security and development projects as the central draft has proposed. But she wants the bill to minimise acquisition of fertile land “to the extent possible”, and better compensation and rehab packages.

Adhikari said Mamata preferred the acquisition model in Congress-ruled Haryana. “She has modified the Haryana model for a more farmer-friendly law based on the idea of social justice and inclusive growth,” the minister said.

Mamata’s wish list includes negotiated settlement on land price and adequate compensation at prevailing market rates, lifelong annuity to landlosers and return of a portion of the acquired land to the original owners after developing it for commercial use. “Our leader feels the new law must include these three provisions for compensation and rehabilitation,” Adhikari said. The draft bill has reportedly included these provisions.