Mumbai:

An intense debate over the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s efforts to legislate the ordinance passed by it to amend the previous government’s Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Settlement Act is expected to spread across the country due to opposition from all quarters.

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, has said it is shocked by the government’s intention to bring in the ordinance and is all set to oppose it at any cost. The Sena’s official newspaper, Saamna, says that the government will commit the sin of “destroying” the interests of farmers at the cost of being in power. It said that at a time when farmers are reeling under a huge debt burden, the government, instead of doing something constructive, is bent on grabbing their land.

Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had on Wednesday asked his party workers to tell farmers the stance taken by his party and the “ill effects” of the Bill in the present format.

Congress leaders at the national and state level have already hit the streets to oppose the bill.

Social activist Medha Patkar, who has been a fierce opponent of big dams and projects where rehabilitation of project-affected people has been a major issue, said at a press conference today that people need to be well-informed on this subject “to counter false propaganda.” She added that earlier multi-cropped land was not to be acquired and farm land was to be avoided as far as possible, but now there is no distinction between fallow and cropped land.

The NDA had used its executive powers in December 2014 to make it easier to acquire land in important areas of security and defence, infrastructure, power and affordable housing. The compensation aspects put in place by the previous Congress-led UPA government in the 2013 Act, however, remained unchanged.

Pointing out how the ground reality for rehabilitation and resettlement of farmers and people displaced by projects is different, Godfrey Pimenta, an activist, says that an application filed under the RTI Act revealed that both central and state governments have failed miserably in implementing the National Rehabilitation & Resettlement Policy, 2007. The RTI inquiry filed during the UPA government “revealed that only two divisions of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) have granted full benefits and two divisions have granted partial benefits to the farmers whose lands were acquired by NHAI for the widening of all National Highways in the country.”

Pimenta also adds that replies numbering more than 50 were received from 16 regional offices of NHAI. It revealed that 500,000 farmers were deprived of RR policy by the NHAI.

Closer home, he also stated how the Mumbai International Airport (Pvt) Ltd (MIAL) was into commercial development of a five-star hotel, convention centre and shopping mall on land in front of the airport. “This is on land that was originally taken from local residents for aeronautical purposes and not for commercial use,” he said.

Pimenta feels that if the land is not used for its original purpose, it should be returned to the original owner as per the rules.