New Delhi: Racing against time, Government will be introducing the much-awaited Land Acquisition Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, a day ahead of the conclusion of the Monsoon Session. If Parliament is allowed to function on Wednesday, the UPA's new Land Acquisition Bill will be tabled, this after the Cabinet gave it the go ahead on Monday.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal gave an indication to this effect.
The government may try to get the bill passed in the Parliament's Winter Session after it is vetted by the Standing Committee. The Bill, which is set to revamp the 1894 act, proposes to give better and higher compensation to landowners. The law is also aimed at giving Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi a leg-up ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections in April next year.
The Union Cabinet has already cleared the measure billed as one of the landmark legislations in the UPA-II dispensation and is being brought about months after party leader Rahul Gandhi raked up the land acquisition issue in a major way by
coming out in support of farmers' agitation at Bhatta Parasul in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
Jairam Ramesh has been working feverishly on the bill after he took charge of the Rural Development Ministry two months back and promised to bring the measure in this session.
The bill has become a major political issue in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh with BSP members raising the issue of its early enactment during the current session.
The Rural Development Ministry is learnt to have made some key changes in its final draft that include provision for creation of a land bank in states to keep the acquired land with itself if it is not used in five years by the concerned party.
Provision in the first draft was to return the land to original owner if it was not used in five years for the purpose for which it is acquired.
Ramesh has described it as a "historic bill" as it replaces a 117-year-old Act.
(With additional information from PTI)
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