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House panel meeting ends as MPs object to Patkar, Raj’s presence
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker from Bihar, Sanjay Jaiswal, said members of the committee had not been informed about the involvement of Patkar and Raj.
A parliamentary committee meeting to review the implementation of the land acquisition law was cancelled on Tuesday after some members, mostly from the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), objected to the presence of activist Medha Patkar and actor-turned-activist Prakash Raj, people aware of the details said.
Representatives of the department of land resources (ministry of rural development); ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC); ministry of tribal affairs; non-government organisations (NGOs), experts; and other stakeholders were to speak before the parliamentary standing committee on rural development and panchayati Raj on the implementation and effectiveness of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, a person privy to the detail said on condition of anonymity.
“When the proceedings were about to begin, some members objected to the presence of Patkar and Raj, pointing out that they had not been informed about their presence,” the person cited above said. “Then 11 MPs, mostly from the NDA, walked out and in the absence of quorum, the meeting was cancelled and is likely to be held on July 14.”
The person said some NDA members particularly objected to the presence of Patkar, citing her role in the Narmada Bachao campaign. “They felt she was responsible for trying to block the Narmada project which would have left one-third of Gujarat parched and drought affected…” the person said.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker from Bihar, Sanjay Jaiswal, said members of the committee had not been informed about the involvement of Patkar and Raj.
“We were told the ministries and some NGOs will put forth their views. There was no explanation on why Patkar and Raj were invited for the meeting, which we eventually boycotted,” he said.
The standing committee, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, has 29 members, including former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda –– who was present for Tuesday’s meeting.
Ulaka said the two were invited to the meeting to hear their views on the legislation. “It is a standard practice to hear people from civil society. We had invited them to share their views on how to strengthen the Act… they would have submitted their views without being privy to the submissions made by the ministry representatives,” he said, adding that the list of invitees had been shared with the Speaker’s Office in advance as per protocol.
“What were the NDA MPs scared of… we could have heard the two and the report would eventually be drafted after consensus between the committee members,” he further said.
The meeting’s agenda was to discuss the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, which regulates land acquisition and lays down the procedure and rules for granting compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement to people affected by the acquisition. The legislation has provisions to provide fair compensation to those whose land is taken away and assures rehabilitation of those affected.
