Oppn demands their pound of flesh to clear land bill

Sensing the UPA's critical dependence on other parties and its keeness to get the long-awaited land acquisition and rehabilitation bill passed, many parties have placed radical demands to tweak the proposed legislation further to make it 'farmer-friendly'. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

Sensing the UPA's critical dependence on other parties and its keeness to get the long-awaited land acquisition and rehabilitation bill passed, many parties have placed radical demands to tweak the proposed legislation further to make it 'farmer-friendly'.

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CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharya has sought guaranteed 200 workdays for all project-affected persons and six-fold increase in compensation for land-losers. He added that the government should take back industrial land if it remains unused for two years. The current draft says land unused for five years shall return to the government.

Top sources said SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has opposed use of multi-crop agricultural land for industrial purpose. His counterpart in JD(U) - Sharad Yadav - has demanded provisions to take away unused land from industries for distribution among poor.

These demands cropped up despite Congress president Sonia Gandhi's assurance that the bill will significantly benefit landowners, the landless and empower tribal communities.

The BJP is yet to give its final view on the bill but a key opposition party, TMC, wants a blanket ban on state's power to acquire land for private industries.